


I Think My Boy’s A Tsundere

by Emerald_DragonFlame



Category: Transformers: Beast Wars
Genre: Angst, Crossover, F/M, Humor, Interspecies Romance, Non-Human Humanoid Society, Non-human Original Character, Romance, Sex, Sexual Humor, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-01-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:08:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 41,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22335310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emerald_DragonFlame/pseuds/Emerald_DragonFlame
Summary: This is technically a crossover with Star Trek: the Original Series, however, all the characters mentioned are original characters. Elisa was on an expedition when she was thrown into a world not like her own. When she is saved by Dinobot, who showed her to the Axelon. Would it be right for her to find love and family in this world not her own?
Relationships: Dinobot/Original Character
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Please forgive the beginning chapters, they’re not great, but my writing gets a lot better as time goes on

**Elisa’s POV  
  
**

I don’t remember how I got here, the ground was hard when I hit it. I felt the wind slamming into my body, the ground and sky smudging together as I fell to the ground. It felt like a thousand little pin-prick smacking into my body as I hit the hard dirt, I groaned as I looked up at the sky, wondering what in the world had happened. 

Slowly, I lifted myself up. I looked at the barren landscape, my whole right side feeling like it was gonna fall off my body. I looked for my tricorder and phaser, both still on my hip and intact. I sighed with relief.

“Alright, where am I?” I muttered to myself, I pulled out my tricorder, scanning the area. Before I could finish scanning, my ears heard a “crack” and I quickly turned around and pulled out my phaser, pointing it at the general direction. The stupid thing was near too small for my big “non-fingers” to pull the trigger. I was slightly shaking out of fear, I tried to sound as big and scary as I looked, as I screamed “I heard you, come out!”  
  


I sounded more shaking than I would have liked, as a… velociraptor came into view? He was light brown, with dark earth brown stripes covering his body, his eyes were a sad grey blue, staring at me intently and then eying my weapon. Like he knew it was dangerous, but the strangest thing, was whenever he spoke.

That’s an interesting gun you have there,” he had a raspy voice, growling ever so slightly, sounding more like a purr. It didn’t sound like it was meant to be sensual, but for some reason, the purr gave me a small lump in my throat. I lowered my phaser, as he continued, “What, in the inferno, are you?” I decided that he wasn’t a threat and lowered my phaser, he came closer.

Well that wasn’t too surprising, my species wasn’t really normal in any of the sectors of the Milky Way Galaxy, heck, I wasn’t even sure if my species _was_ from the Milky Way… to give the best description of my fesique; my body looks like a horse that just stood up one day. I have smooth light aqua skin, no nose (it's more of a bump than anything) and my ears were long and pointed, think with dark red insides. My eyes’ “whites” are a burnt orange, with light orange irises. My hands, the closes description of them I can give you is really big goat hooves. I have a long lizard tail, with light purple fins at the tip of it, having similar fins on my forearms, spine, and legs, with dark red gills/nostrils on my neck. Top that off with being nearly 7 foot it may surprise you to know that most people think of me cute.

I simply answered him;

“That’s not surprising, my question to you is how in the world is a velociraptor talking to me? Did I hit my head harder than I thought?” He rose an eye ridge at me.

“I am a Cybertronian, and you still haven’t answered my question,” he spoke as if that was help make sense of everything. Still, I decided to tell him.

“I’m a Nephilim, my name’s Elisa, by the way,” I put out my hand, hoping that he knew what it meant. However, he just stared at it, not knowing what to do, he was only a few feet away from me, I only just realizing he was just as tall as daddy (who, I think, is about 6’ 6”).

“I call myself Dinobot, and what are you doing with your hand?” I slowly put it down. _That’s kinda on the nose…_ I quietly thought.

“Nevermind,” with the way he sounded, it was surprising how fluent and pretty he spoke. We stood there for a few moments, long enough for the silence to become awkward, I slowly began to walk away.

“Well, this has been a wonderful conversation, but I need to figure out where I am, and how I’m gonna get home,” I turned away from him, before I heard his voice again.

“Hold right there, Nephilim, you’re not going anywhere,” out civil conversation seemed to suddenly turn dangerous as Dinobot growled. It confused me. I grabbed my phaser again, but didn’t pull it out of it’s holster.

“What?” I tried to show little fear (even though the sudden jolt of motion startled me). He seemed to notice me jumping, and backed off only slightly, staring at my hand holding the phaser. He sighed and muttered something under his breath.

“It’s not safe here, the Predacons like to prey on… innocent victims,” there was that purr again.

“Predacons?” I asked, my tail twitching irritably, this guy was as confusing as he was irritating… he turned towards, what I believed, was the north west.

“Listen, Optimus would skin me alive if I left you here,” He stretched out his claw to me, “so come with me if you want to live,” there was a reference here somewhere, I just know it. I didn’t know how to react, but if what he said was true, well, I didn’t want to see what would happen if I had stayed. I began to follow him when I suddenly felt my right side begin to hurt, I staggered and looked down to notice purple blood dribble from my arm and leg.

My navy blue uniform was nearly completely ruined, as was the stocking on my right leg. My once pretty and fashionable dress was covered in blood, grime, and dirt. I groaned, trying to cover the holes in my body like I were a leaking balloon. I lumbered slowly after him.

“Don’t think I haven’t noticed your injuries, Nephilim,” He said to me, like he could read my thoughts. “When we get to base, our medic should get you cleaned up, and then Optimus Primal will figure out what to do to you…,” Was I being captured by the bad guys? I mean, the way Dinobot acted, and sounded, it was almost like I was going to the wrong side, or was I? Was this all a setup? The sudden thought gave me shivers. 

Then, again, why would he help me, don’t bad guys not help people in trouble, or do they? In all the stories I had read, the bad guys were evil, through in through, but this was real life… right? They were just stories, after all. Whatever might have happened, I knew that I couldn’t just tempt fate and stay outside, for fear of what he said about these “Predacons” he spoke of were right. Heck, I was really not in shape to take on anything at the moment, it would just be stupid. 

My vision was starting to get blurry. _Oh, please, not now!_ I felt myself begin to sway when I stumbled, and fell with a small _thwump ._

Dinobot turned around to see me flat on the ground, clutching my right side. He walked towards me, looking only slightly concerned. “We must keep moving, Nephilim,” he yelled out to me, all I could do was whimper, and muster;

“It’s _Elisa_!” I cried, with my adrenaline wearing off, I could feel the full force of what that crash did to me. “I can't move…,” I groaned, feeling the warm, wet blood trickle out of my leg and arm, as I saw Dinobot slowly walk towards me, he sighed, while standing doing so.

“Dinobot, _Maximize_!” he yelled, and that is when I saw him transform.  
  


. . .

**Dinobot’s POV**

This female was… interesting to say the least… when I saw her falling from the sky, I couldn’t tell if she were friend, or foe. I couldn’t even tell where she fell from, there was nothing that she could have. It did not really matter after I stupidly cracked a stick under my foot. She turned with the speed of a cheetah, and with the fierceness of a lion, pointing that strange weapon at me.

Her particular figure was most intriguing, she was obviously not a Cybertronian, but she was not like anything I had ever seen. When she had turned to face me, I could see a fire in her eyes that I had not see in a long time. In her own strange way, she was beautiful. Those bright auburn eyes… 

Of course, if I were interested in such nonsense! Romance, and the like, were for the weak, not for a warrior like myself… why are you looking at me like that?

Knowing that Optimus would want me to bring her to safety, I told her to follow me. It was not as if I did not notice her injuries when I decided to talk to her. They were… very obvious, but I also saw that she did not seem to even care about them until we had stopped speaking, and began walking. I heard her begin to drag behind and limp, knowing that her eventual complaining would be a nuisance, I confided in her that she would be healed. However, what I did not anticipate was her collapsing.

I growled, knowing that if we did not keep moving forward, the Predacons might catch us, and I was _not_ in the mood for Primal getting angry at me for leaving an “innocent” behind. The thought of just leaving her there, and not speaking of her again, did cross my mind, however, I knew that that would be… dishonorable. I transformed, and looked down at her.

Her face was one of confusion when looking at me. A small smirk came across my lips as she spoke, her voice quivering, most likely from pain. “I-I didn’t know you c-could do that…,” she twitched and yelped. How was it something that could look so threatening, could look so small and weak.

“As I said…,” I gingerly put my hands under her body, and slowly picked her up, she squeaked. “I’m a Cybertronian, now hold on,” I had her by her shoulders and her legs, when I looked down at her again, to make sure I had a good grip, I saw her eyes were wide, and her cheeks were a light purple color. She looked away as quickly as I had looked down. I was genuinely confused.

I decided that I didn’t want to know, as I ran as fast as I could. The energon was already starting to mess with my circuits.

When we had gotten to the base, the Nephilim seemed like she was going to power down, or whatever other aliens called it. Sleep? I was not feeling well either when we finally reached the door, it lowered down to allow me on. She was starting to get heavy, the energon must have been taking its’ toll. I pressed the button to go up when I saw Optimus, standing over the holographic map. He turned to me, his optics opened wide. It was more than obvious that he was curious about the thing that was in my arms.

“Dinobot! What in the name of the Allspark do you have in your hands?” The female was asleep in my arms, she seemed so peaceful like that. I felt my spark started to hurt, confusion crossed my mind again. I looked up and answered my… leader…

“I found her, falling out of the sky, as it were, and I knew that I couldn’t just… leave her there…,” he gestured me over to the CR chamber, as I continued “Besides, I knew you would have my hide if I were to just… leave her for the wolves,” I gently put her down in said chamber, as I could hear, very clearly, how disappointed Primal was.

“How very admirable of you…,”

“Was that sarcasm, Optimus?” he did not answer me, turning on the machine, he asked;

“I need you to tell me everything, and don't leave out any details,” I had to sit down, running with her in my arms really did weaken me. Rubbing my temples, I sighed.

“Fine... I shall tell you what she told me,”

. . .

**Elisa’s POV**

I woke up in a cold sweat, and on a hard bed. I had not realized that I had fallen asleep while going to the base, all I remembered was Dinobot transforming and then he... I jolted up, suddenly feeling very flustered, very much awake, scared, and all alone. I looked down at my body, thinking the worst (I was still half asleep, so thinking that… things might have happened), when my torn up clothing was still on my body, I sighed with relief, when I looked around my room.It was bare, boring grey walls that reminded me of the _Tippecanoe_ ’s brig. The bed wasn’t much better either… I rubbed my back and groaned in pain. Pain…

I looked at my side to see that there wasn’t even a trace of an injury on me, the only remnants of my scratches were the tears in my clothing. I stared at my arm, twisting it to see if it had a scar or something, but no. I was clean… I heard my door slide open, as a grey robot stepped into the room.

“Ah, you’re awake, good,” he had a smooth voice, the kind you would hear in old kids’ cartoons when listening to the good guy. He walked closer to me, giving a friendly smile, I wanted to be cautious though, trying to subtly slide away from him, where was my phaser? “We were worried that the CR chamber didn’t work, you’re not exactly the normal patient,” I nodded, and tried to give a friendly smile back, I still felt kinda sore, but I relaxed, a little.

“Feels like it worked, thank you,” he looked relieved when I said that, then spoke.

“My name is Optimus Primal, I am the Commander of the Maximals. And Dinobot has already told me your name, Elisa, right?” I nodded again, _So he_ could _say my name_. A small chuckle came from that thought, as said bot came into the room.

“Hey, speak of the devil,” I said with a thankful smile. His face didn’t change as he came closer to me, looking me over.

“I am glad to see you did not die, it would have been a… true shame,” Dinobot said, I smiled. Was he being sarcastic? With the way he spoke, I really couldn’t tell. However, that was no reason for me to be rude.

“Thank you, for saving my life, Dinobot. I believe, I’m in your debt,” he pulled back from, what I could only assume was, shock, when I said that. He put his hands on his hips, and looked away. Was he… blushing?

“Well… maybe I shall find a way to help you… return the favor someday,” he looked back at me for only a moment, before turning on his heels. “I have work to do,” was all he said before leaving the room.

As if my life couldn’t get any weirder…


	2. Chapter 2

**Elisa’s POV**

Getting use to living with 5 men was… weird, to say the least. I mean, it wasn’t too different from hanging out with dad’s marines, just a  _ little _ less roughty, slight fewer sex jokes, and only having to live with it 24-7. 

Not that I really mind any of that, I loved the marines, and felt like an honorary member when being with them, but to say I felt like I was instantly a part of this group was hard to say. I knew where I stood, and I had no qualms figuring out the people whom I would consider my family in this crazy world. Then again, to say I felt completely comfortable was not really true (as I said, I was in a base full of nothing but men… any woman would feel at least a little uncomfortable… right?).

The three others I met were Rattrap, Cheetor, and Rhinox, each having, very different reactions.

“You’re a what now?” Rattrap questioned giving me the once over. He had a very noticeable New Yorker accent.

“A Nephilim,” I simply answered back, while he was less than impressed, saying something along the lines of “Great, another person to keep track of,” the others seemed a little more inviting.

“Dude! I’ve never seen anything like you before!” Cheetor smiled like a sweet little puppy (the irony).

“Indeed, where are you from, Elisa?” Rhinox asked, but I just smiled and said;

“Nowhere and everywhere, to be honest, until I know where I am now, I won’t really be able to tell you where I’m from,” after hearing that, they seemed to understand, I guess I wasn’t their only visitor to fall from the sky… maybe.

After they gave me my phaser back, guess they wanted to make sure that the thing wouldn’t explode or something after they took it from me, I realized that my uniform was a lost cause. To be honest, now that I had thought about it, I could have patched it up with animal skins or something… but I realized that just giving myself a new look would just make more sense. 

After a lot, and I mean, a lot of convincing Optimus I could very much go hunting for, not only skin that I could turn into clothing, but food, he groaned and begrudgingly allowed me to go hunting. With company though. And who did he decide would be a good idea for a hunting trip? Dinobot. 

Listen, I didn’t have any problems with him accompanying me on this, I just could only wonder if he found it, or me, to be annoying… the hunt was eventful, though, we spoke very little, considering that we were  _ trying _ to stay quiet was fine, but the thing was we didn’t need to stay silent after the trip. Which we still were… he carried the animal (a tiger I believe) on his back and led the way back to the  _ Axelon _ , the name of our base… He said nothing, other than ask me where to put it. Knowing that I needed food and other things to survive the crew gave me a room for a kitchen, where I could cook as I pleased. After skinning, and gutting the tiger, which was one of the most disgusting things ever, let me tell you, but I was hoping that I’d be able to use every bit of it, I snipped myself the closest thing I could get to clothing; skins that, mostly, covered breasts and other lady parts, and tied down with a bone. It wasn’t pretty, heck, I looked like a cave-woman, but it was better than having holes around my body. To try and make myself look at least a little decent, I put my hair in a more medieval style, making the back part of my head look like flower with a waterfall coming out of it. My friend Ti-Me was the one to teach me it. I made a mental note to learn to make better clothing, armor, and a parka for the cold months.  _ Lord, have mercy on my soul... _

After showing me to my room (the drab little hole that I woke up in), they told me about the Beast Wars. They were following the Darksyde, a predacon war ship, when they went back in time and crash landed on this planet. They had left some of their crew in space to keep them from getting killed, and were here, at that moment, fighting this man named, Megatron, and I was caught in the middle of it, how nice... thankfully my interactions were a little less strange as the days went on and began to be a lot more like a family, thus, the quest to find my way back home… had begun.

**. . .**

I could imagine that it was hard to get use to a girl that just squeezed her way into their lives. Then again I was pretty useful when it came to computers, if I do say so myself. I literally squealed like a fangirl when seeing how far their technology had gone. 

Their holograms were my favorite tech to mess with, however I was able to help Rhinox with other things, such as these survey posts, I was able to help with their sensitivity, making them twice as effective, I was so proud of myself, and so was Rhinox, apparently.

“Good job, Elisa, I am glad you thought to change the coils to make detection much easier,” I blushed and simply laughed.

“The  _ Tippecanoe _ has similar components when it comes to it’s sensors. My friend Ronan taught me how to do it,” Rhinox smiled.

“Well I’ll be sure to thank him for teaching you this, if I ever get to meet him,” Somehow, I really doubted that these boys would ever meet my crew, but I would remember to tell Chief Ronan that if I ever got back home… home…

“There that’s the last of them.” Rhinox said, putting down the lengthy survey posts and turning back to Rattrap. “Any sign of Optimus?” my ears twitched towards Rattrap as he spoke.

“Eh, not even a flicker, this storm is trashing comm-links more than usual, and that’s bad enough,” the annoyance in his voice was very obvious.

“Did you try compensating for radioactivity?” I asked, genuinely curious, but Rattrap didn’t see it that way.

“Oh, yeah, sure, let me just press the button that says ‘get rid of radioactivity here’,” his voice laced with sarcasm. I put my hands up in defence.

“ _ Sorry _ , my bad, didn’t know that asking simple questions offended you so,” He near looked like he wanted to kill me.

“Listen here, Aqua Fresh, if the big bot didn’t allow you to be here, you’d be dead in the middle of the desert. So, would you be so kind as to show me some respect,” I rolled my eyes.

“No thanks to you, as I recall, it was Dinobot that saved me, so there,” said bot was already in the room, listening to our conversation. Rhinox laughed.

“She’s got you there, Rattrap,” he just threw his hand in the air, and went back to work.

“You forget that this mission is too critical to be stopped by a minor variation of weather!” Dinobot growled, while he was making sure the bomb he and Cheetor were making was stable. Dinobot looked around and yelled “Who took the syncro laser!” I darted my eyes to see if it was anywhere near me.

“Allow me,” Cheetor said smoothly, with the syncro laser in hand, I didn't know if I was supposed to feel worried or not. He walked up to Dinobot and the bomb, ready to help. He touched the bomb with the laser trying to fix it, however he must have accidentally crossed wires or something, cause the thing hopped like a mexican jumping bean, and flipped like an overachieving Olympic competitor. The two men just stared at it in silence for less than half a second, before Dinobot grabbed Cheetor by the neck. Hot red anger fuming from his lips.

“Why you little!” Dinobot screamed, as I ran towards the two of them, ready to try and defuse the situation (no pun intended). I heard Rattrap scream;

“The bomb!” stopping me in my tracks, watching helplessly as the explosive tumbled down into the hole we called an entrance. It tinked and clanked while we covered our faces, “Watch out!” Rattrap continued. We were preparing for the worst.

However, thankfully, Optimus, as an ape, came up in just the nick of time, bomb in tow.

“Some sort of trouble?” he asked, tossing the bomb up as he looked around, a sigh of relief blew across the  _ Axalon _ , knowing we were safe, but I had another job to do.

“Di!” I screamed, grabbing his right arm, the one that was holding Chi by the neck. He looked down at me, trying to sound confident “Put him down now!” he growled at me.

“And what authority do you have over me, Little One,” that is when I rose to my full height and stared down at him, a little hiss coming from my own mouth.

“Call me ‘Little One’ again, I dare you,” he seemed far from impressed. He dropped Cheetor, and turned to face me, a little faux threatening purr resonating from his throat.

“Little... One,” 

I pounced, my mouth opened wide, and wider splitting my jaw open, growling as I had my hands on his chest, and he on the floor. He grabbed my face and threw me off him, me on all fours, ears pinned down, gowling, and eyes dialated. The others just sat back and watched, unsure what to do. I would later learn that I was the only one to challenge Dinobot to fight like that. Then again, I did notice is that he never pulled out his weapon, he instead “unsheathed his claws”, in a sense, and ran at me.

I dodged by only a centimeter of his claws, before he grabbed my tail, and dragged me towards him. I tried to grab anything to stop him from making me squeak across the floor, but it was all in vain. I howled when I swiped at his arm, my long arms scrapping at his scales, he hissed, letting go of my tail.

I lunged at him, trying not to bite him, I used my claws again to swipe at his stomach. However, he simply grabbed my arm and twisted it behind my back, he purred in my ear, I felt them twitch at his voice “If I didn’t want to go easy on you, you’d be in more pain from what I‘m about to do,” he then tripped me and slammed me down on the ground, I yelped, and groaned in pain. Letting me sit there for a moment, I saw the whole world spin. Di put his hand out for me to grab, confused and dazed from the sudden hit, I grabbed at it, missing the first time, but getting it the second. Putting his hand under my chin, checking my face, and looking me over, he checked to see if I had any major injuries. He let go of my face, after being sure.

“When fighting, use all your resources, you forgot that you had teeth and back claws,” He stood in the room with everyone speechless, and me… strangely aroused… 

Now I know that that seems really weird, but hear me out! My species are all made to fight. A lot. The thrill of the fight has always been something that I have enjoyed. And when fighting a man, a very…  _ masculine _ man, it tends to be very… arousing… YES, I KNOW IT’S WEIRD. OKAY?!

The silents was broken by Cheetor clearing his throat and saying, “Thanks for catching that, Big Bot, I, uh, just needed to make a few adjustments…,” he twisted the bomb and triumphantly said “There, now we can send those Preds up as space debris!” which was short lived… when the thing started beeping...dang it Chi…

Everyone, maybe except for Dinobot, was freaking out again, before Cheetor stopped it from, literally, blowing up in our faces. He chuckled nervously, and Optimus just sighed.

“Put it to bed, we’re stalled,”

“What!” Dinobot hissed.

“You can't be serious,” I groaned

“You’re kiddin’,” Rattrap said in disbelief.

“What are you talking about?” Rhinox questioned.

“Hey, it’s just a cross quazar circuit, I can fix it,” Cheetor said, looking up at his leader with a hopeful grin.

“That storm will hit us within the hour!” Optimus snapped back.

“An hour?” Cheetor giggled, tossing the bomb in the air (that was really beginning to freak me out), “Not a problem, fellow beasts,” he looked at me “And lady, I can outrun anything the skies can dish!”

“Sorry, Cheetor, it’s too risky,” Optimus said, seeming genuinely sorry “The placement of those survey posts must be thoroughly calculated to avoid contact with any underground energon deposits,”

“I’m not just some dippy cub you know,” Cheetor responded “I can do this, try having some faith in me for once!”

“As much as you would like to think so, Cheetor, this isn’t about you,” that line must have really pissed Cheetor off cause he backed away, his face contorted into a scowl, and tossed the bomb back to Dinobot. He caught it, and Cheetor walked away. I finally screamed;

“Would you guys, please, stop throwing a highly combustible object that has almost blown up twice now!” Cheetor harrumphed, and left the room.

“Sorry, Elisa,” Optimus apologized. However, Dinobot wasn’t willing to resolve this dilemma quite yet.

“And does it matter if we blow some energon!?” he came closer and closer to Optimus “Maybe it’ll take a few Predacons with it, that is what we want, is it not?”

“This mission Dinobot is to gain tactical advantage by taking out their base,” Optimus growled back “Defeating them doesn’t mean we need to annihilate them,” his disappointment obvious “You seem to have trouble understanding that,”

“I agree,” I finally speaking up.

“What?!” Dinobot turned towards me “What I do understand is that if the roles were reversed, Megatron would spare the base, and annihilate us!”

“And we should stoop down to their level?” I shot back, “Let’s just be like our enemy, nevermind that the reason  _ why _ we are fighting is  _ because _ we are different, and don’t believe in what they believe,” Dinobot came closer to me.

“I’m starting to regret saving you,” I could feel his breath on my face, it cascaded over my skin, giving me shivers.

“Why, because I don’t agree with you?” My face getting even closer to his.

“Because… because…,” he stuttered, his face turned to a light blue, a growl shuddering from his throat. He forcefully gave the bomb to Optimus and walked away. 

What the heck was that?

“Optimus,” Rattrap spoke up, I admittedly forgot that he was there, “They’re simple survey relays, all they do is detect energy signatures, right, Rhinox, Elisa?” he looked at both of us with an eager face, I just shook my head, but Rhinox went a little further.

“I’m with Optimus on this one,”

“It’s way too dangerous for anyone to go out there, even if you are fast like Cheetor,” I reaffirming what Rhinox was getting at.

“Not only that, energon is an untested variable, we gotta be careful,” With that, the conversation was over.

**. . .**

**Dinobot’s POV**

What was that female doing to me? How was it possible that she was able to drop me so quickly? It wasn’t even her fighting me that had gotten me upset, it was the fact that every time I even got close to her, my spark felt like it would burst out of my chestplate, and when she fought me… let’s just say that, I found it more… amusing then I would have preferred… and then there was her clothing. How was a man supposed to concentrate when the only woman on the base insisted on wearing something so revealing?! But the thing that irritated me the most, was that it made me want to see more… why? I hadn’t a clue, I groaned, feeling my face grow warm from that imbecilic thought. I could only hope that she’d get better at cloth work.

I walked towards Cheetor’s room, he must have hear me, because he had muttered a simple “Come in…,” I walked in without a word.

“Come to chew my tail for fritzing that bomb?” he asked.

“No,” I answered back, a plan brought to my mind, that would require me to be patient, even if what he did was insanely irritating… “I am confident you can fix it, just as I am confident that you can outrun the storm, and plant those survey posts,” I was trying to sound as… genuine as possible.

“Well, then you’re the only one who thinks so…,” This child, I swear… still, I continued. I thoughtfully growled.

“Do not mind Optimus, to him, you are a mere child… incapable of handling such an important mission,” I smirk, putting my index finger in the air, trying to appear as if I had given this “deep thought” I continued “Like you said, he has no faith…,”

“Yeah, well, I could show him a thing or two,” he muttered.

“Then…,” I purred “Why not do so?” I suggested, his ears perked at what I had said.

“What?” he question, you could not tell me that this boy had not considered… disobeying? I think that surprised me the most.

“You have mapped every energon deposit for five-hundred meters,  _ and _ your land speed is unequaled. In fact, you are the only one who could pull off… this mission…,” there were times I was glad I could pull off stroking the egos of those with low self esteem, some… would consider it a gift… and the smile on Cheetor’s face was words enough. Caught you…

**. . .**

I had watched as Cheetor went out to risk his life, whether he would come back unharmed was his problem now. Since there was nothing better to do, and I was bored out of my mind, I left to see what Elisa was doing… Elisa, a strange name that seem to roll of the tongue… I shook my head, curse that female and her name! Nevermind! It was a stupid idea anyway!

Thank, Primas that an anomaly had happened in the control room, I would have gone mad, had something not happened. A flash of light, followed by a familiar face.

“W-w-where’d he go!?” Terrorsaur screamed. “Where’d I go?” he asked confused, I tried not to laugh.

“Welcome to enemy arms, my former comrade,” a noticeable smile spread across my face, “I hope you… enjoy your stay,” just the distraction I needed, heh heh… I unsheathe my sword, as Terrisoar glared.

“I don’t know how you brought me here, traitor,” he obviously was preparing to attack “but prepare to stain the deck--,” I cut him off by grabbing his helm, and lifting him to optic level. I had forgotten how annoying he could be… before I was able to scrap him, I looked down at the communication panel he had appeared on.

“Wait!” surprise and relief spread on his face, as I let him go. “Could it be. that an accident of technology and nature has actually created a transporter? Hmm,” I pondered aloud. “Terrorsaur…,” I grabbed his shoulder, making him jump, “Perhaps a… truce is in order,”

He looked at the communication panel “A transporter-- oh, yeah!” he said with a smile, as if he could really think of something like this. “So that’s how that kid-cat ended up in our base!” nevermind…

“And you here… Interesting development…,” how splendid, I had figured out a way to destroy their base… now, to trap him…

“Yeah… yeah! Say! We could turn our truce, into an alliance, Dinobot!” I had to admit, I should have... expected this, I knew he would backstab me the moment I turned my back, but this was it, the trap that I needed.

“An alliance?” I sounded sceptical, if I were to be truthful it was… tempting… “To what end?”

“Think of the cosmic magnificence! Together, we’ll overthrow these low-grade metal knock-offs, you’ve joined! And then  _ rule _ the Predacons with two iron fists!” he threw said fist in the air, if anyone on this ship was low-grade, it was him… and with an electrifying fist-bump he screamed “Nothing can stop us!” I could not wait to throw him out the nearest airlock… with a small whiff of the air I could tell someone else was here...

**. . .**

  
  


**Elisa’s POV**

I heard the entire thing… I had heard in passing conversation that Dinobot had defected to the Maximals… that he was originally a Predacon… I couldn’t say it was hard to believe, but a small part of me hoped that I had misheard. I had wanted to know if anyone here besides me liked to eat, when I had stumbled upon Dinobot and another speaking. He was a bright red color, and looked like a hot shot. I hid behind a beam, praying that I wasn’t being noticed by the two. When they began to leave the room, I followed at a distance. 

How could he have done this?! Was it wrong for me to want to trust him? This wasn't fair! Then again, what did he owe me? He rescued me from the desert, out of mostly not wanting to get his ass kicked, but I still owed him for that. Well, if he was going to play like this, then that debt can shove it! Why did I want to cry all the sudden?

The two spoke about the transporter, the fact that they hadn’t figured out that ability surprised me.

“And by simply coming in contact with the communications console,” his voice hurt to listen to “this initiated the transport?” the shock in his voice was uncanny, as the other spoke.

“That’s all I did, nothin’ to it!” God, his voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard!

“Excellent!” Dinobot smiled, “Then I shall have not difficulty duplicating the procedure…,” 

Wait a minute… 

“Without you…,” 

Um… what was he doing?

I took me a second to realize that we had stopped at the airlocks, when Dinobot slammed into the other man, shoving him to the wall, and kicking him into an empty airlock. Closing it tightly.

“Hey!” the other man screamed “What’re ya doing?! We’re  _ partners _ !”

“In case you hadn’t realized, Needle Nose,” the smirk well defined on his face, “I am  _ not _ a team player,” and with that, he shot said “Needle Nose” out into oblivion, us only hearing faint screams of a man who really didn’t want to fly at that point and time…

I saw him turn his towards my general direction, and shout “I know you’re here, Elisa…,” he purred “come out…,” I let myself be seen, I gave him a confused look.

“You said my name…,” I felt butterflies in my stomach when he said that, but he just rolled his eyes, as if the first time I had heard him say it was no big deal.

“Would you rather me call you ‘female’?” he asked, “… besides, that’s not the reason why you are here…,” he came closer, “You were following us… I’m surprised that Terrorsaur didn’t smell you…,” I looked away, ashamed. I felt like I got caught with my hand in the cookie jar, but I didn’t know why.

“I thought you were going to do something stupid, I wanted to make sure. Thank God I was wrong,” the sadness in my eyes were probably as noticeable as my tusks. He seemed to feel a little ashamed as well, but quickly went back to his stone face.

“And if I did?” he asked, I walked closer, making him look me in the face.

“Then that debt I owe you, would have been revoked, and I could never trust you again…,” I know now that that sounded like the stupidest thing to say, but his face faltering just a little bit. Whether it was because he wanted to hold me to that debt, or something else, I wasn’t sure.

“Well, it’s a good thing I didn't, then,” I couldn’t tell if I was angry at him or not, however, before he could continue, a certain grey leader stepped into play.

“Dinobot, Elisa! The survey posts are missing as is Cheetor!” Optimus glared at him “Do you two know anything about it?” 

Cheetor was missing? That was the first I had heard of it.

“You don't think he…,” I asked, but Dinobot chimed in.

“Oh, so that’s what he was doing out there…,” I looked at him, oh, no he didn't…

“What are you talking about?” Optimus asked, but I think Di knew exactly what happened, Dinobot wasn’t very good at lying, however, it seemed like I was the only one who could see past his BS…

“I… overheard a Predacon communication, a lightning strike hit a survey post, it transported Cheetor into the Predacon base,” oh, yeah, complete BS… Optimus groaning and pinching the nonexistent bridge on his “nose” “Regrettable yes, he has surely been destroyed by Megatron,” … please tell me he didn’t…?

“No!” me and Optimus yelled in horror, he couldn't have… did he send Cheetor out to die? Why!? 

“But, take heart in the fact that through the cat’s ultimate sacrifice, we have been given a way to defeat them,” he clutched his claws, and I… slapped him. With my giant hands, his head spun right ‘round, tears streaming down my face, and surprise on his. After he stopped spinning, of course.

“How. Dare. You. Speak of your comrade as if he were just a pawn to be killed off! Honor? What the hell is that!? Just as long as you get your way, screw ‘em, right!” I screamed in his face. Both Optimus and Dinobot were amazed, whether by my voice or the fearosity, I’m not sure… I grabbed Dinobot by the arm and glared daggers at him, but before I could do anything, to be honest,  _ I _ didn't even know what I was going to do, before Primal stopped me.

“Elisa, enough!” he grabbed my hand, my rage subsided only a little, I roughly let go of Dinobot’s arm, still boring a hole in his head with my eyes. “Even if Cheetor isn't dead, we should hear out what Dinobot has to say.” I looked at Optimus, then Dinobot, “Please,” he asked, I sighed…

“Could you let go of my hand, Optimus…,” he gently released me, Di still staring at me. If I were to be honest, he looked like a dejected puppy… but he spoke, softly.

“We, uh, have the the ability to transport to the Predacon base, we just simply… plant the bomb that Cheetor and I had… perfected,” Even if Cheetor was still alive, we could still use his  _ possible _ death to benefit the Maximals during the Beast Wars. I was still angry at him though...

**. . .**

  
  


In the com room, Dinobot was ready to transport the explosive, but before he could, Optimus yelled “Wait!” both me and Di looked back.

“You’re sure that the destination countdown will give the Predacons time to flee the base?” personally, we could only hope…

“They shall have thirty seconds,” Dinobot omitted “Any more, and they might be able to… disarm it,” Optimus sighed, and looked up at the sky, as if to beg to whatever god there was to help him.

“Proceed…,” he muttered, I could only imagine what was going through his head. Dinobot listened and gently put the bomb on the communications panel, it set, and disappeared from view. I couldn't understand why, but I felt like this was a really bad idea.

But, of course I was proven correct by something dropping off after the bomb, what looked to be a floppy disk (yes, I knew what that was, sometimes knowing older tech is cool). I grabbed and inspected it.

“Huh, would you look at that,” I said.

“What is it?” Dinobot asked. I gave it to Primal.

“It’s a data disk,” he told Di. Huh, I was close. He took a sniff at it, surprised, he continued “And it has Cheetor’s scent!”

“So, he could still be alive?!” I asked, a twinge of joy and relief splashing over me. Even Dinobot took a whiff.

“It’s possible… the scent is... still fresh,” he said, giving me a sheepish look. He knew that I knew…

Optimus put the disk in the computer and yelled “Play this, now!” as said computer began to process what was giving to it, what we saw, was terrifying at the time.

“Are those…?” I began.

“Energon veins,” Optimus answered, I was afraid he’s say that. There, on the disk was one, very large, vein that slipped right under both the Predacon and Maximal bases. If one went down, the other one goes down with it.

“... Slag…,” was all any of us could say…

Before we were able to start freaking out, wondering how we’d save our own hides, another burst of light came into view. Cheetor, as a cheetah, stood on the consol, smile on his face, while we all nearly had a heart/spark attack when he appeared. 

“Hey, cool cats, what’s shaking!” he asked.

“YOU NEARLY GAVE ME A FRICKIN’ HEART ATTACK! But other than that, I’m good…,” the sudden raise in my voice made all three men jump, Optimus groaned.

“Elisa, please, for the love of Primus…,”

“Sorry, Optimus…,”

**. . .**

  
  


“So, that’s what happened when we was gone!? Shesh, the one time you try to sharpen your skills…,” Rattrap sighed, pinching the the bridge of his nonexistent nose. He and Rhinox had been training while this was going on, and after that whole fiasco, we had told them what’s what.

“Well if it wasn’t for Cheetor deactivating the bomb, we’d all be wonderful stains on the desert sand,” I patted him on the back reassuringly, he smiled back at me, “Thank you, Cheetor,”

He turned away from me, barely hiding the flush of blue on his face, yep, that settled it. Note to self: when their cheeks turn blue, that means they’re blushing. He turned back to me.

“Hey, don’t mention it, E,” he answered back, the blue on his face still there. Cheetor looked over to Dinobot, who seemed a little distressed, and smiled at him. Di just growled, and left the room. I followed.

“Di, hey, wait up!” I tried getting his attention, I did, but he simply just turned his head and growled at me.

“What, are you going to yell at me again, Elisa? Tell me that I was wrong, and that I should burn in the inferno for giving Cheetor the idea to go out on his own?” the accusation clear in his voice, and also, what sounded like hurt, too. I could barely even see his face, but his eyes, they seemed dimmer than usual.

“No,” I answered him, closing the distance between the two of us, and giving a sympathetic look. “I came to apologize,” he turned around, the surprise on his face deafening, but I continued. “Of course, I don’t agree with what you did, especially with Cheetor, I can see why you did it. However, if you’re willing, I wish to give you the reason why it’s wrong,” there was curiosity and annoyance on his face, but he stood there, willing to listen. I hoped I could make it short and sweet.

“What you did, was tactical suicide, as in, you could have completely ruined our chances of winning this war, if Cheetor had not survived. The ramifications of such an act could have devastated us,” his eyes went wide, realizing what I was getting at, I continued. “We have already few enough troops as is, and if we lose one, we lose tactical advantage, this is why I disagree,”

He seemed confused, then asked, “You’re not angry about me... putting someone in danger just for my... personal gain?”

“Oh, no, I’m still  _ very _ angry about that, but I also know how people like you think,” I trying not to sound  _ too _ angry, but the venom still dribbling through my voice. “All you care about is the end goal, and frankly, that can be a very good asset, depending on how you use it. But if you ever so much as  _ think _ about putting any of our family in danger again,” I got closer to him, my face so close to his that once again, I could feel his breath on my skin, “I will gut you _ likea da fish _ ,” I said in an italian accent. He just laughed.

“Ah, yes, and we saw how... well that turned out earlier today,” he said and I smirked.

“That’s because I didn’t bite you,” he raised his “brow” as I clarified “My teeth can secrete a toxin that can knock anyone on their afts,” I put my hand on my hip, still keeping my smirk, “Including you, Di,” 

“You keep... calling me that, why?” I raised a brow.

“What, you guys don’t have nicknames on your world?”

“Of course, we do,”

But?” I pushed, “Have you never had a nickname?” he rolled his eyes.

“Most ‘nicknames’ that I have ever had the… ‘pleasure’ of holding were… less than flattering,” that wasn’t too surprising, him being a Pred before.

“Well then, I haven’t been doing my job, I gotta think of a more flattering name for you,” I said with I genuine smile. Even if he did anger me at times, there was no reason for me to not at least  _ try _ and make peace with him. I thought for a moment, then, inspiration hit me.

“Dino-Might!” I said with a smile, clicking my two fingers together so it sounded like a snap. “A play on words of dynamite! It’s friggin’ perfect!” He was very obviously confused. 

“I… uh…,” his face turned a light shade of blue. It was kinda, well, cute, seeing him fumble with his words, trying to figure out what to say. He grumbled something, it sounded like “thk... yu…” I raised a brow. 

“Huh, what you say?”

“Th-(groan) thank you. There, happy?” I was. I patted his shoulder, and smiled. 

“You’re welcome, Dino-Might,” I walked away, but stopped, asking, “Are we equal on my debt now,” for the first time ever, I had seen him smile truthfully, and he answered;

“Not even close,”


	3. Chapter 3

**Elisa’s POV**

Getting use to living with 5 men was… weird, to say the least. I mean, it wasn’t too different from hanging out with dad’s marines, just a  _ little _ less roughty, slight fewer sex jokes, and only having to live with it 24-7. 

Not that I really mind any of that, I loved the marines, and felt like an honorary member when being with them, but to say I felt like I was instantly a part of this group was hard to say. I knew where I stood, and I had no qualms figuring out the people whom I would consider my family in this crazy world. Then again, to say I felt completely comfortable was not really true (as I said, I was in a base full of nothing but men… any woman would feel at least a little uncomfortable… right?).

The three others I met were Rattrap, Cheetor, and Rhinox, each having, very different reactions.

“You’re a what now?” Rattrap questioned giving me the once over. He had a very noticeable New Yorker accent.

“A Nephilim,” I simply answered back, while he was less than impressed, saying something along the lines of “Great, another person to keep track of,” the others seemed a little more inviting.

“Dude! I’ve never seen anything like you before!” Cheetor smiled like a sweet little puppy (the irony).

“Indeed, where are you from, Elisa?” Rhinox asked, but I just smiled and said;

“Nowhere and everywhere, to be honest, until I know where I am now, I won’t really be able to tell you where I’m from,” after hearing that, they seemed to understand, I guess I wasn’t their only visitor to fall from the sky… maybe.

After they gave me my phaser back, guess they wanted to make sure that the thing wouldn’t explode or something after they took it from me, I realized that my uniform was a lost cause. To be honest, now that I had thought about it, I could have patched it up with animal skins or something… but I realized that just giving myself a new look would just make more sense. 

After a lot, and I mean, a lot of convincing Optimus I could very much go hunting for, not only skin that I could turn into clothing, but food, he groaned and begrudgingly allowed me to go hunting. With company though. And who did he decide would be a good idea for a hunting trip? Dinobot. 

Listen, I didn’t have any problems with him accompanying me on this, I just could only wonder if he found it, or me, to be annoying… the hunt was eventful, though, we spoke very little, considering that we were  _ trying _ to stay quiet was fine, but the thing was we didn’t need to stay silent after the trip. Which we still were… he carried the animal (a tiger I believe) on his back and led the way back to the  _ Axelon _ , the name of our base… He said nothing, other than ask me where to put it. Knowing that I needed food and other things to survive the crew gave me a room for a kitchen, where I could cook as I pleased. After skinning, and gutting the tiger, which was one of the most disgusting things ever, let me tell you, but I was hoping that I’d be able to use every bit of it, I snipped myself the closest thing I could get to clothing; skins that, mostly, covered breasts and other lady parts, and tied down with a bone. It wasn’t pretty, heck, I looked like a cave-woman, but it was better than having holes around my body. To try and make myself look at least a little decent, I put my hair in a more medieval style, making the back part of my head look like flower with a waterfall coming out of it. My friend Ti-Me was the one to teach me it. I made a mental note to learn to make better clothing, armor, and a parka for the cold months.  _ Lord, have mercy on my soul... _

After showing me to my room (the drab little hole that I woke up in), they told me about the Beast Wars. They were following the Darksyde, a predacon war ship, when they went back in time and crash landed on this planet. They had left some of their crew in space to keep them from getting killed, and were here, at that moment, fighting this man named, Megatron, and I was caught in the middle of it, how nice... thankfully my interactions were a little less strange as the days went on and began to be a lot more like a family, thus, the quest to find my way back home… had begun.

**. . .**

I could imagine that it was hard to get use to a girl that just squeezed her way into their lives. Then again I was pretty useful when it came to computers, if I do say so myself. I literally squealed like a fangirl when seeing how far their technology had gone. 

Their holograms were my favorite tech to mess with, however I was able to help Rhinox with other things, such as these survey posts, I was able to help with their sensitivity, making them twice as effective, I was so proud of myself, and so was Rhinox, apparently.

“Good job, Elisa, I am glad you thought to change the coils to make detection much easier,” I blushed and simply laughed.

“The  _ Tippecanoe _ has similar components when it comes to it’s sensors. My friend Ronan taught me how to do it,” Rhinox smiled.

“Well I’ll be sure to thank him for teaching you this, if I ever get to meet him,” Somehow, I really doubted that these boys would ever meet my crew, but I would remember to tell Chief Ronan that if I ever got back home… home…

“There that’s the last of them.” Rhinox said, putting down the lengthy survey posts and turning back to Rattrap. “Any sign of Optimus?” my ears twitched towards Rattrap as he spoke.

“Eh, not even a flicker, this storm is trashing comm-links more than usual, and that’s bad enough,” the annoyance in his voice was very obvious.

“Did you try compensating for radioactivity?” I asked, genuinely curious, but Rattrap didn’t see it that way.

“Oh, yeah, sure, let me just press the button that says ‘get rid of radioactivity here’,” his voice laced with sarcasm. I put my hands up in defence.

“ _ Sorry _ , my bad, didn’t know that asking simple questions offended you so,” He near looked like he wanted to kill me.

“Listen here, Aqua Fresh, if the big bot didn’t allow you to be here, you’d be dead in the middle of the desert. So, would you be so kind as to show me some respect,” I rolled my eyes.

“No thanks to you, as I recall, it was Dinobot that saved me, so there,” said bot was already in the room, listening to our conversation. Rhinox laughed.

“She’s got you there, Rattrap,” he just threw his hand in the air, and went back to work.

“You forget that this mission is too critical to be stopped by a minor variation of weather!” Dinobot growled, while he was making sure the bomb he and Cheetor were making was stable. Dinobot looked around and yelled “Who took the syncro laser!” I darted my eyes to see if it was anywhere near me.

“Allow me,” Cheetor said smoothly, with the syncro laser in hand, I didn't know if I was supposed to feel worried or not. He walked up to Dinobot and the bomb, ready to help. He touched the bomb with the laser trying to fix it, however he must have accidentally crossed wires or something, cause the thing hopped like a mexican jumping bean, and flipped like an overachieving Olympic competitor. The two men just stared at it in silence for less than half a second, before Dinobot grabbed Cheetor by the neck. Hot red anger fuming from his lips.

“Why you little!” Dinobot screamed, as I ran towards the two of them, ready to try and defuse the situation (no pun intended). I heard Rattrap scream;

“The bomb!” stopping me in my tracks, watching helplessly as the explosive tumbled down into the hole we called an entrance. It tinked and clanked while we covered our faces, “Watch out!” Rattrap continued. We were preparing for the worst.

However, thankfully, Optimus, as an ape, came up in just the nick of time, bomb in tow.

“Some sort of trouble?” he asked, tossing the bomb up as he looked around, a sigh of relief blew across the  _ Axalon _ , knowing we were safe, but I had another job to do.

“Di!” I screamed, grabbing his right arm, the one that was holding Chi by the neck. He looked down at me, trying to sound confident “Put him down now!” he growled at me.

“And what authority do you have over me, Little One,” that is when I rose to my full height and stared down at him, a little hiss coming from my own mouth.

“Call me ‘Little One’ again, I dare you,” he seemed far from impressed. He dropped Cheetor, and turned to face me, a little faux threatening purr resonating from his throat.

“Little... One,” 

I pounced, my mouth opened wide, and wider splitting my jaw open, growling as I had my hands on his chest, and he on the floor. He grabbed my face and threw me off him, me on all fours, ears pinned down, gowling, and eyes dialated. The others just sat back and watched, unsure what to do. I would later learn that I was the only one to challenge Dinobot to fight like that. Then again, I did notice is that he never pulled out his weapon, he instead “unsheathed his claws”, in a sense, and ran at me.

I dodged by only a centimeter of his claws, before he grabbed my tail, and dragged me towards him. I tried to grab anything to stop him from making me squeak across the floor, but it was all in vain. I howled when I swiped at his arm, my long arms scrapping at his scales, he hissed, letting go of my tail.

I lunged at him, trying not to bite him, I used my claws again to swipe at his stomach. However, he simply grabbed my arm and twisted it behind my back, he purred in my ear, I felt them twitch at his voice “If I didn’t want to go easy on you, you’d be in more pain from what I‘m about to do,” he then tripped me and slammed me down on the ground, I yelped, and groaned in pain. Letting me sit there for a moment, I saw the whole world spin. Di put his hand out for me to grab, confused and dazed from the sudden hit, I grabbed at it, missing the first time, but getting it the second. Putting his hand under my chin, checking my face, and looking me over, he checked to see if I had any major injuries. He let go of my face, after being sure.

“When fighting, use all your resources, you forgot that you had teeth and back claws,” He stood in the room with everyone speechless, and me… strangely aroused… 

Now I know that that seems really weird, but hear me out! My species are all made to fight. A lot. The thrill of the fight has always been something that I have enjoyed. And when fighting a man, a very…  _ masculine _ man, it tends to be very… arousing… YES, I KNOW IT’S WEIRD. OKAY?!

The silents was broken by Cheetor clearing his throat and saying, “Thanks for catching that, Big Bot, I, uh, just needed to make a few adjustments…,” he twisted the bomb and triumphantly said “There, now we can send those Preds up as space debris!” which was short lived… when the thing started beeping...dang it Chi…

Everyone, maybe except for Dinobot, was freaking out again, before Cheetor stopped it from, literally, blowing up in our faces. He chuckled nervously, and Optimus just sighed.

“Put it to bed, we’re stalled,”

“What!” Dinobot hissed.

“You can't be serious,” I groaned

“You’re kiddin’,” Rattrap said in disbelief.

“What are you talking about?” Rhinox questioned.

“Hey, it’s just a cross quazar circuit, I can fix it,” Cheetor said, looking up at his leader with a hopeful grin.

“That storm will hit us within the hour!” Optimus snapped back.

“An hour?” Cheetor giggled, tossing the bomb in the air (that was really beginning to freak me out), “Not a problem, fellow beasts,” he looked at me “And lady, I can outrun anything the skies can dish!”

“Sorry, Cheetor, it’s too risky,” Optimus said, seeming genuinely sorry “The placement of those survey posts must be thoroughly calculated to avoid contact with any underground energon deposits,”

“I’m not just some dippy cub you know,” Cheetor responded “I can do this, try having some faith in me for once!”

“As much as you would like to think so, Cheetor, this isn’t about you,” that line must have really pissed Cheetor off cause he backed away, his face contorted into a scowl, and tossed the bomb back to Dinobot. He caught it, and Cheetor walked away. I finally screamed;

“Would you guys, please, stop throwing a highly combustible object that has almost blown up twice now!” Cheetor harrumphed, and left the room.

“Sorry, Elisa,” Optimus apologized. However, Dinobot wasn’t willing to resolve this dilemma quite yet.

“And does it matter if we blow some energon!?” he came closer and closer to Optimus “Maybe it’ll take a few Predacons with it, that is what we want, is it not?”

“This mission Dinobot is to gain tactical advantage by taking out their base,” Optimus growled back “Defeating them doesn’t mean we need to annihilate them,” his disappointment obvious “You seem to have trouble understanding that,”

“I agree,” I finally speaking up.

“What?!” Dinobot turned towards me “What I do understand is that if the roles were reversed, Megatron would spare the base, and annihilate us!”

“And we should stoop down to their level?” I shot back, “Let’s just be like our enemy, nevermind that the reason  _ why _ we are fighting is  _ because _ we are different, and don’t believe in what they believe,” Dinobot came closer to me.

“I’m starting to regret saving you,” I could feel his breath on my face, it cascaded over my skin, giving me shivers.

“Why, because I don’t agree with you?” My face getting even closer to his.

“Because… because…,” he stuttered, his face turned to a light blue, a growl shuddering from his throat. He forcefully gave the bomb to Optimus and walked away. 

What the heck was that?

“Optimus,” Rattrap spoke up, I admittedly forgot that he was there, “They’re simple survey relays, all they do is detect energy signatures, right, Rhinox, Elisa?” he looked at both of us with an eager face, I just shook my head, but Rhinox went a little further.

“I’m with Optimus on this one,”

“It’s way too dangerous for anyone to go out there, even if you are fast like Cheetor,” I reaffirming what Rhinox was getting at.

“Not only that, energon is an untested variable, we gotta be careful,” With that, the conversation was over.

**. . .**

**Dinobot’s POV**

What was that female doing to me? How was it possible that she was able to drop me so quickly? It wasn’t even her fighting me that had gotten me upset, it was the fact that every time I even got close to her, my spark felt like it would burst out of my chestplate, and when she fought me… let’s just say that, I found it more… amusing then I would have preferred… and then there was her clothing. How was a man supposed to concentrate when the only woman on the base insisted on wearing something so revealing?! But the thing that irritated me the most, was that it made me want to see more… why? I hadn’t a clue, I groaned, feeling my face grow warm from that imbecilic thought. I could only hope that she’d get better at cloth work.

I walked towards Cheetor’s room, he must have hear me, because he had muttered a simple “Come in…,” I walked in without a word.

“Come to chew my tail for fritzing that bomb?” he asked.

“No,” I answered back, a plan brought to my mind, that would require me to be patient, even if what he did was insanely irritating… “I am confident you can fix it, just as I am confident that you can outrun the storm, and plant those survey posts,” I was trying to sound as… genuine as possible.

“Well, then you’re the only one who thinks so…,” This child, I swear… still, I continued. I thoughtfully growled.

“Do not mind Optimus, to him, you are a mere child… incapable of handling such an important mission,” I smirk, putting my index finger in the air, trying to appear as if I had given this “deep thought” I continued “Like you said, he has no faith…,”

“Yeah, well, I could show him a thing or two,” he muttered.

“Then…,” I purred “Why not do so?” I suggested, his ears perked at what I had said.

“What?” he question, you could not tell me that this boy had not considered… disobeying? I think that surprised me the most.

“You have mapped every energon deposit for five-hundred meters,  _ and _ your land speed is unequaled. In fact, you are the only one who could pull off… this mission…,” there were times I was glad I could pull off stroking the egos of those with low self esteem, some… would consider it a gift… and the smile on Cheetor’s face was words enough. Caught you…

**. . .**

I had watched as Cheetor went out to risk his life, whether he would come back unharmed was his problem now. Since there was nothing better to do, and I was bored out of my mind, I left to see what Elisa was doing… Elisa, a strange name that seem to roll of the tongue… I shook my head, curse that female and her name! Nevermind! It was a stupid idea anyway!

Thank, Primas that an anomaly had happened in the control room, I would have gone mad, had something not happened. A flash of light, followed by a familiar face.

“W-w-where’d he go!?” Terrorsaur screamed. “Where’d I go?” he asked confused, I tried not to laugh.

“Welcome to enemy arms, my former comrade,” a noticeable smile spread across my face, “I hope you… enjoy your stay,” just the distraction I needed, heh heh… I unsheathe my sword, as Terrisoar glared.

“I don’t know how you brought me here, traitor,” he obviously was preparing to attack “but prepare to stain the deck--,” I cut him off by grabbing his helm, and lifting him to optic level. I had forgotten how annoying he could be… before I was able to scrap him, I looked down at the communication panel he had appeared on.

“Wait!” surprise and relief spread on his face, as I let him go. “Could it be. that an accident of technology and nature has actually created a transporter? Hmm,” I pondered aloud. “Terrorsaur…,” I grabbed his shoulder, making him jump, “Perhaps a… truce is in order,”

He looked at the communication panel “A transporter-- oh, yeah!” he said with a smile, as if he could really think of something like this. “So that’s how that kid-cat ended up in our base!” nevermind…

“And you here… Interesting development…,” how splendid, I had figured out a way to destroy their base… now, to trap him…

“Yeah… yeah! Say! We could turn our truce, into an alliance, Dinobot!” I had to admit, I should have... expected this, I knew he would backstab me the moment I turned my back, but this was it, the trap that I needed.

“An alliance?” I sounded sceptical, if I were to be truthful it was… tempting… “To what end?”

“Think of the cosmic magnificence! Together, we’ll overthrow these low-grade metal knock-offs, you’ve joined! And then  _ rule _ the Predacons with two iron fists!” he threw said fist in the air, if anyone on this ship was low-grade, it was him… and with an electrifying fist-bump he screamed “Nothing can stop us!” I could not wait to throw him out the nearest airlock… with a small whiff of the air I could tell someone else was here...

**. . .**

  
  


**Elisa’s POV**

I heard the entire thing… I had heard in passing conversation that Dinobot had defected to the Maximals… that he was originally a Predacon… I couldn’t say it was hard to believe, but a small part of me hoped that I had misheard. I had wanted to know if anyone here besides me liked to eat, when I had stumbled upon Dinobot and another speaking. He was a bright red color, and looked like a hot shot. I hid behind a beam, praying that I wasn’t being noticed by the two. When they began to leave the room, I followed at a distance. 

How could he have done this?! Was it wrong for me to want to trust him? This wasn't fair! Then again, what did he owe me? He rescued me from the desert, out of mostly not wanting to get his ass kicked, but I still owed him for that. Well, if he was going to play like this, then that debt can shove it! Why did I want to cry all the sudden?

The two spoke about the transporter, the fact that they hadn’t figured out that ability surprised me.

“And by simply coming in contact with the communications console,” his voice hurt to listen to “this initiated the transport?” the shock in his voice was uncanny, as the other spoke.

“That’s all I did, nothin’ to it!” God, his voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard!

“Excellent!” Dinobot smiled, “Then I shall have not difficulty duplicating the procedure…,” 

Wait a minute… 

“Without you…,” 

Um… what was he doing?

I took me a second to realize that we had stopped at the airlocks, when Dinobot slammed into the other man, shoving him to the wall, and kicking him into an empty airlock. Closing it tightly.

“Hey!” the other man screamed “What’re ya doing?! We’re  _ partners _ !”

“In case you hadn’t realized, Needle Nose,” the smirk well defined on his face, “I am  _ not _ a team player,” and with that, he shot said “Needle Nose” out into oblivion, us only hearing faint screams of a man who really didn’t want to fly at that point and time…

I saw him turn his towards my general direction, and shout “I know you’re here, Elisa…,” he purred “come out…,” I let myself be seen, I gave him a confused look.

“You said my name…,” I felt butterflies in my stomach when he said that, but he just rolled his eyes, as if the first time I had heard him say it was no big deal.

“Would you rather me call you ‘female’?” he asked, “… besides, that’s not the reason why you are here…,” he came closer, “You were following us… I’m surprised that Terrorsaur didn’t smell you…,” I looked away, ashamed. I felt like I got caught with my hand in the cookie jar, but I didn’t know why.

“I thought you were going to do something stupid, I wanted to make sure. Thank God I was wrong,” the sadness in my eyes were probably as noticeable as my tusks. He seemed to feel a little ashamed as well, but quickly went back to his stone face.

“And if I did?” he asked, I walked closer, making him look me in the face.

“Then that debt I owe you, would have been revoked, and I could never trust you again…,” I know now that that sounded like the stupidest thing to say, but his face faltering just a little bit. Whether it was because he wanted to hold me to that debt, or something else, I wasn’t sure.

“Well, it’s a good thing I didn't, then,” I couldn’t tell if I was angry at him or not, however, before he could continue, a certain grey leader stepped into play.

“Dinobot, Elisa! The survey posts are missing as is Cheetor!” Optimus glared at him “Do you two know anything about it?” 

Cheetor was missing? That was the first I had heard of it.

“You don't think he…,” I asked, but Dinobot chimed in.

“Oh, so that’s what he was doing out there…,” I looked at him, oh, no he didn't…

“What are you talking about?” Optimus asked, but I think Di knew exactly what happened, Dinobot wasn’t very good at lying, however, it seemed like I was the only one who could see past his BS…

“I… overheard a Predacon communication, a lightning strike hit a survey post, it transported Cheetor into the Predacon base,” oh, yeah, complete BS… Optimus groaning and pinching the nonexistent bridge on his “nose” “Regrettable yes, he has surely been destroyed by Megatron,” … please tell me he didn’t…?

“No!” me and Optimus yelled in horror, he couldn't have… did he send Cheetor out to die? Why!? 

“But, take heart in the fact that through the cat’s ultimate sacrifice, we have been given a way to defeat them,” he clutched his claws, and I… slapped him. With my giant hands, his head spun right ‘round, tears streaming down my face, and surprise on his. After he stopped spinning, of course.

“How. Dare. You. Speak of your comrade as if he were just a pawn to be killed off! Honor? What the hell is that!? Just as long as you get your way, screw ‘em, right!” I screamed in his face. Both Optimus and Dinobot were amazed, whether by my voice or the fearosity, I’m not sure… I grabbed Dinobot by the arm and glared daggers at him, but before I could do anything, to be honest,  _ I _ didn't even know what I was going to do, before Primal stopped me.

“Elisa, enough!” he grabbed my hand, my rage subsided only a little, I roughly let go of Dinobot’s arm, still boring a hole in his head with my eyes. “Even if Cheetor isn't dead, we should hear out what Dinobot has to say.” I looked at Optimus, then Dinobot, “Please,” he asked, I sighed…

“Could you let go of my hand, Optimus…,” he gently released me, Di still staring at me. If I were to be honest, he looked like a dejected puppy… but he spoke, softly.

“We, uh, have the the ability to transport to the Predacon base, we just simply… plant the bomb that Cheetor and I had… perfected,” Even if Cheetor was still alive, we could still use his  _ possible _ death to benefit the Maximals during the Beast Wars. I was still angry at him though...

**. . .**

  
  


In the com room, Dinobot was ready to transport the explosive, but before he could, Optimus yelled “Wait!” both me and Di looked back.

“You’re sure that the destination countdown will give the Predacons time to flee the base?” personally, we could only hope…

“They shall have thirty seconds,” Dinobot omitted “Any more, and they might be able to… disarm it,” Optimus sighed, and looked up at the sky, as if to beg to whatever god there was to help him.

“Proceed…,” he muttered, I could only imagine what was going through his head. Dinobot listened and gently put the bomb on the communications panel, it set, and disappeared from view. I couldn't understand why, but I felt like this was a really bad idea.

But, of course I was proven correct by something dropping off after the bomb, what looked to be a floppy disk (yes, I knew what that was, sometimes knowing older tech is cool). I grabbed and inspected it.

“Huh, would you look at that,” I said.

“What is it?” Dinobot asked. I gave it to Primal.

“It’s a data disk,” he told Di. Huh, I was close. He took a sniff at it, surprised, he continued “And it has Cheetor’s scent!”

“So, he could still be alive?!” I asked, a twinge of joy and relief splashing over me. Even Dinobot took a whiff.

“It’s possible… the scent is... still fresh,” he said, giving me a sheepish look. He knew that I knew…

Optimus put the disk in the computer and yelled “Play this, now!” as said computer began to process what was giving to it, what we saw, was terrifying at the time.

“Are those…?” I began.

“Energon veins,” Optimus answered, I was afraid he’s say that. There, on the disk was one, very large, vein that slipped right under both the Predacon and Maximal bases. If one went down, the other one goes down with it.

“... Slag…,” was all any of us could say…

Before we were able to start freaking out, wondering how we’d save our own hides, another burst of light came into view. Cheetor, as a cheetah, stood on the consol, smile on his face, while we all nearly had a heart/spark attack when he appeared. 

“Hey, cool cats, what’s shaking!” he asked.

“YOU NEARLY GAVE ME A FRICKIN’ HEART ATTACK! But other than that, I’m good…,” the sudden raise in my voice made all three men jump, Optimus groaned.

“Elisa, please, for the love of Primus…,”

“Sorry, Optimus…,”

**. . .**

  
  


“So, that’s what happened when we was gone!? Shesh, the one time you try to sharpen your skills…,” Rattrap sighed, pinching the the bridge of his nonexistent nose. He and Rhinox had been training while this was going on, and after that whole fiasco, we had told them what’s what.

“Well if it wasn’t for Cheetor deactivating the bomb, we’d all be wonderful stains on the desert sand,” I patted him on the back reassuringly, he smiled back at me, “Thank you, Cheetor,”

He turned away from me, barely hiding the flush of blue on his face, yep, that settled it. Note to self: when their cheeks turn blue, that means they’re blushing. He turned back to me.

“Hey, don’t mention it, E,” he answered back, the blue on his face still there. Cheetor looked over to Dinobot, who seemed a little distressed, and smiled at him. Di just growled, and left the room. I followed.

“Di, hey, wait up!” I tried getting his attention, I did, but he simply just turned his head and growled at me.

“What, are you going to yell at me again, Elisa? Tell me that I was wrong, and that I should burn in the inferno for giving Cheetor the idea to go out on his own?” the accusation clear in his voice, and also, what sounded like hurt, too. I could barely even see his face, but his eyes, they seemed dimmer than usual.

“No,” I answered him, closing the distance between the two of us, and giving a sympathetic look. “I came to apologize,” he turned around, the surprise on his face deafening, but I continued. “Of course, I don’t agree with what you did, especially with Cheetor, I can see why you did it. However, if you’re willing, I wish to give you the reason why it’s wrong,” there was curiosity and annoyance on his face, but he stood there, willing to listen. I hoped I could make it short and sweet.

“What you did, was tactical suicide, as in, you could have completely ruined our chances of winning this war, if Cheetor had not survived. The ramifications of such an act could have devastated us,” his eyes went wide, realizing what I was getting at, I continued. “We have already few enough troops as is, and if we lose one, we lose tactical advantage, this is why I disagree,”

He seemed confused, then asked, “You’re not angry about me... putting someone in danger just for my... personal gain?”

“Oh, no, I’m still  _ very _ angry about that, but I also know how people like you think,” I trying not to sound  _ too _ angry, but the venom still dribbling through my voice. “All you care about is the end goal, and frankly, that can be a very good asset, depending on how you use it. But if you ever so much as  _ think _ about putting any of our family in danger again,” I got closer to him, my face so close to his that once again, I could feel his breath on my skin, “I will gut you _ likea da fish _ ,” I said in an italian accent. He just laughed.

“Ah, yes, and we saw how... well that turned out earlier today,” he said and I smirked.

“That’s because I didn’t bite you,” he raised his “brow” as I clarified “My teeth can secrete a toxin that can knock anyone on their afts,” I put my hand on my hip, still keeping my smirk, “Including you, Di,” 

“You keep... calling me that, why?” I raised a brow.

“What, you guys don’t have nicknames on your world?”

“Of course, we do,”

But?” I pushed, “Have you never had a nickname?” he rolled his eyes.

“Most ‘nicknames’ that I have ever had the… ‘pleasure’ of holding were… less than flattering,” that wasn’t too surprising, him being a Pred before.

“Well then, I haven’t been doing my job, I gotta think of a more flattering name for you,” I said with I genuine smile. Even if he did anger me at times, there was no reason for me to not at least  _ try _ and make peace with him. I thought for a moment, then, inspiration hit me.

“Dino-Might!” I said with a smile, clicking my two fingers together so it sounded like a snap. “A play on words of dynamite! It’s friggin’ perfect!” He was very obviously confused. 

“I… uh…,” his face turned a light shade of blue. It was kinda, well, cute, seeing him fumble with his words, trying to figure out what to say. He grumbled something, it sounded like “thk... yu…” I raised a brow. 

“Huh, what you say?”

“Th-(groan) thank you. There, happy?” I was. I patted his shoulder, and smiled. 

“You’re welcome, Dino-Might,” I walked away, but stopped, asking, “Are we equal on my debt now,” for the first time ever, I had seen him smile truthfully, and he answered;

“Not even close,”


	4. Chapter 4

**Elisa’s POV**

After the whole “leading Cheetor to his near death” fiasco, me and Dinobot had a more… strained relationship. I felt like he had used his powers of persuasion to make a good kid do something stupid. He was an adult, how could he do that? However, learning that tiny part about his past, and how he wasn’t really respected or loved, it made me feel… pity for him. 

Of course that’s not to say that what he did to Cheetor wasn’t wrong, it just made a little more sense.

I had been real privy to the sorry state of the  _ Axelon _ , it wasn’t hard to tell that it was a bunch of men living here. I decided that it would be my duty to spruce the drab little place up. Starting with some flowers.

I decided I didn’t want to burden anyone with my, what I thought at the time, silly errand. I really didn’t want Optimus to think I needed protection 24/7. I was able to defend myself when the situations called for it, even if I was still weaker than most of them. I really hadn’t even seen a Predacon, let alone known what their capabilities were. The “needle-nose” one that had been ejected from the base a couple of days ago didn’t count. However, I knew that he was a danger, no matter how… incompetent he may have seemed.

I let myself wander around the jungle near the base. Being overrun by smells and sounds. I was going to make the  _ Axelon _ more homely, and putting my own personal effects should have helped in that process, and depending on how the boys reacted, I had more ideas to come.

I found beautiful exotic flowers, some of which I thought only existed in one’s imagination. Vibrant purples, blues, reds, and golds were cradled in my long arms, I made sure that none of them were poisonous by smelling them, my gills may have not been as acute as the other Maximals, but they worked well enough.

After about an hour it was getting harder and harder to keep a hold on all of them. My arms covered in tropical flora, I had to find something to carry these things in…

I knew I had absolutely no time make myself a basket, so I set the flowers down, and began searching for  _ something _ that could help me carry my new home decorations. Or, at the very least, room decorations… 

After searching what seemed like an eternity (I was surprised that my flowered didn’t die), I finally found a stone bowl looking thing. It looked like it was shaped by water, possibly sedimentary, but I wasn’t too sure. I picked it up and placed my flowers into it. I decided to grab a bunch of dying grass to someday make a basket for myself. 

I stopped for only a moment. Why was I doing this? The whole point was for me to figure out a way to get back home, so why was I trying to make a home here? I looked down at the exotic flora and grass wisps I had gathered, intently staring at them. There was no need for me to make a space more homely if you weren’t planning on staying, so why had I so quickly wanted to “fix the place up” as it were?

Heck, I hadn’t even told them who I was, other than my name and species, they had no idea what my plans were. Why though? Why hadn’t I? I began walking again, at a slower pace this time, thinking of the reasons why I hadn’t been kind enough to give them the information about my past, with that knowledge, it could be possible that they could help me. 

I heard rustling in the bushes beside me, and realized I had forgotten my phaser, stupid rookie mistake, I dropped the bowl and went into a fighting stance. Thankfully it wasn’t fragile and didn’t break on impact. I growled.

“I hear you! Come out!” I screamed, my teeth bared. Unlike what I had suspected, I saw a familiar face jump out of the bushes, smiling.

“Hey, calm down, E, it’s just me,” It was Cheetor, walking around in his beast mode, I sighed with relief. Letting my guard, and hands, down.

“Jeez, you need to stop doing that, Chi. You scared the daylights outta me…,” I hadn’t noticed that my jaw had split open in the middle again, I really hated when I did that. I closed it up, the split disappearing from view. Chi’s eyes widened, I wasn’t sure if it was out of fear, or confusion.

“Hey, I saw you do that same weird thing with your jaw when you were fighting Dinobot, how do you do that?” Chi asked, pointing at my chin with his paw. I picked up the bowl that I had dropped, along with a couple of loose flowers and grass.

“It’s just something Nephilim can do, then again, I’ve really only seen one other person like me,” he nodded, content with my answer. I continued “So, are you following me or what?” His eyes widened, then put his paw on the back of his head looking away sheepishly. 

“No, but I did come to find you,” he answered, still looking rather uncomfortable. “Big Bot was wondering what had happened to you, and sense I am the fastest cat around,” oh, the humble brag, Cheetor, you were so cute. I chuckled. 

“You all keep worrying about me, why?” I asked, curiosity wisping through my voice. “I keep hearing about the ‘dangerous’ Predacons, and yet I haven’t seen a single one,” Cheetor seemed to get really uncomfortable again. 

“Elisa, the Preds aren’t something to joke about, I mean, I know I do, but I also know what they’re like. They ever found out you existed, they’d probably use you as a guinea pig for some pretty messed up experiments…,” the seriousness in his voice… to be honest, it scared me that this young kid, who never took anything seriously, looked at me like my life depended on my hearing this. I held my bowl closer…

“And that’s why Optimus didn’t want me to go alone…,” Chi nodded. 

“Hey, I’m happy to come with you when you wanna go out,” his smile was sincere “We just wanna keep you safe, E,” a sad smile spread across my face, cause he was right. No matter how “strong” I made myself look, I was no match for even Dinobot, what made me think I could go against a Predacon. I was weak, when it came to fighting… and because of it, I felt so useless… I didn’t think I could hold that stupid bowl tighter.

All I was… was a burden to them… another mouth to feed… and here I was, walking around with stupid flowers in my hand  _ pretending _ to be useful.

_ Idiot, moron! They just pity you, that’s the only reason why they let you live. you stupid, stupid--! _

“Hey, E? Are you okay?” Chi pulled me out of my self hating monologue, putting his paw on my shoulder. “Why are you crying? Did I say something wrong?” I didn’t notice my light orange tears staining my face until he had pointed it out. I wiped them away, trying not to worry him. 

“Sorry, I just, uh…,” dang it… the tears were flowing again. I dropped the flowers and wrapped my arms around his neck, whimpering. “I-I’m sorry I’m such a burden!” 

_ Stop it, stop crying, you stupid girl, stop crying! He’s going to think you’re weak! You’re going to be left alone, you deserve it, stupid, idiotic, girl! You deserve this, you deserve to be alone! _

“I’m so-so s-sorry, that I… I’m so useless!” 

_ Fucking SHUT  _ **UP** _! _

I wanted him to hate me. I wanted him to think I was nothing. Instead, I felt a warm paw pat my back, a purr coming from Chi’s throat…

“E, you’re not useless,” that… that made me want to cry even harder, but I tried to stiffen it. “What were you planning on doing today?” He asked, confusing me. I pulled away, I probably looked like a mess. 

“What -hic- are you talking about?” I questioned, sniffling like a kid. He just smiled. 

“Flowers to make the base more homely? And I could recall you sayin’ something about making dinner? E, you helped with the survey post, making them better. Kinda feel bad that I messed them up…,” a small chuckle came from my lips. “But with the few days you’ve been here, you’ve made life so much more fun, and what kind of Maximals would just leave a pretty girl like you to die?” What did he just say?

“Pretty, huh?” I said, trying to give a sly grin, but trying to be funny right after a minor mental breakdown was just a little bit difficult. My voice was raspy and raw, and my eyes were acting like puffer fish…

He blushed, turning his head away from me. I really wished he didn’t do that, then again, I wasn’t really helping the situation either, taunting him, and all. I was way too far down this rabbit hole to say I “didn’t want to get attached” because I already was. I had already fallen in love with these boys, and there was nothing I could do about it. No matter what I did, I wanted to go home. But it was going to hurt a lot when and if it happened. Still, I didn’t want  _ them _ to get attached to me… I didn’t want them to miss me too much when I left… if I left. 

No, I was going home! I needed to go home, I couldn’t be so selfish to stay here, I had people counting on me. 

_ No you don’t. No one misses you.  _

“Well, ahem, we still need to get back. Boss Monkey might get angry if we stay out here too long,” I nodded, picking up my bowl. I stopped. 

“Hey, Chi, what’s the situation on our food supply?” I asked, he looking up to sky, thinking. 

“I think we’re stocked up for the next month or two, why?” He looked back at me, and I smiled. 

“Before we go, I need to pick up some ingredients, care to join me?”

**OOooOOooOOooOO**

“Where have you two been? Cheetor, I told you to fetch for her three mega-cycles ago!” Optimus Primal groaned, voice dripping with annoyance. He looked at me and Cheetor, both of us holding little bottles of spices (Cheetor had some bottles on hand, usually for sampling the local wildlife) we had picked and haphazardly crushed and stuffed.

“Sorry Optimus, I asked him to help me with gathering some ingredients for dinner tonight. Didn’t mean to worry you,” we carried the bottles towards my kitchen, I had so many things planned for this place, I didn’t know where to even start. Maybe see if any of the boys knew how to do metal work, or something. And woodworking… and maybe glass work-- you know what, maybe I was asking too much.

_ Wow, do you really think they’d really do all that, just for you? What a selfish bitch. _

Was it normal to want to hit the voices in your head? Or should I say voice?

What I hated was this was the best I could do, and even then, it wasn’t much… I couldn’t really do anything to help with the war. Other then give the troops a hearty meal before or after battle. But this was what I was good at, and as God as my witness, I was going to be the best darned homemaker I could be. I was going to make life easier for these boys, the best way I could. 

_ I’m sure they’d want…  _ other _ services, from you, too.  _

God, that gave me chills… I knew that, logically, they’d never even consider me like that. Why would they? 

I shook my head, that was stupid. I was just freaking myself out, and it would help anybody if I kept doing that. 

Through all that I had been on autopilot, not even realizing that Cheetor had left me to my devices, I looked around the kitchen and quickly got to work.

**OOooOOooOOooOO**

**Dinobot’s POV**

This was so idiotic… Optimus Primal, whether intentionally or not, had decided that  _ I _ would be Elisa’s “bodyguard” as he put it. Due to her having the apparent uncontrollable urge to leave the base, and with the risk of her being targeted by the Predacons, she needed to be… taken care of…

“Why do  _ I _ have to be the one to babysit her? Surely, Cheetor or Rhinox would be a… better suit for her,” I was still trying to understand why I… felt so vulnerable around her. I  _ hated _ it…

“Because, Dinobot, she trust you. And whether you like it or not, my mind’s made up,” Optimus could be extremely stubborn, and changing his mind about anything was like trying to grab the wind. Still, it didn’t hurt to… try.

“And what of my other duties, we’re running thin as is. And if Elisa could stand up to me--,”

“Need I remind you, you were going easy on her, and still beat her,” he interrupted me, near glaring me down. “Elisa has little, to no, hand to hand combat skills, she says she’s good with that phaser of her’s, but would you really want to test that with the Predacons?!”

“So, what, you want me to be her teacher, too?”

“If you could spare you oh-so-valuable time, it would be appreciated!” we were at a stand-still. My commander wasn’t backing down, and I wanted to do anything else than watch a near completely helpless woman 24/7. However, I… begrudgingly, relented…

“Fine, I’ll make sure to… keep an eye on her,” I made sure to make my frustrations  _ very _ apparent.

“Thank you,” he smiled at me, surprisingly without a hint of malicious intent, “I’m sure in time, you’ll learn to like this task,”

I had no idea what in the  _ pit  _ he was talking about, so I just shrugged it off and went to go fine Elisa.

**OOooOOooOOooOO**

Standing near the door frame, I watched her cook. I had to admit, the smell of whatever she was making was… divine. It was in a large pot, and looked like a thick liquid with pieces of vegetables and meat, unapologetically, it made my mouth water.

Then she started… singing. It was a song I had never heard before, but it had a somewhat sad tune to it.

_ Fly me to the moon _

_ And let me play among the stars _

_ Let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars _

_ In other words, hold my hand _

_ In other words, baby _

_ Kiss me~ _

_ Fill my heart with song _

_ And let me sing forever more _

_ You are all I long for _

_ All I worship and adore _

_ In other words _

_ Please be true _

_ In other words _

_ I love you~ _

The song was so sickly sweet, and yet, I couldn’t help, but… sway to it. Her voice was just as sweet as the song, high pitched and gentle. To be honest, she wasn’t half bad. As she sung, she danced around the kitchen like she had worked there for years, I just stood and watched, it was almost hypnotic.

_ Fill my heart with song _

_ Let me sing forever more _

_ You are all I long for _

_ All I worship and adore _

_ In other words: please, be true~ _

_ In other words, in other words: I love you _

As her song ended, she put a lid on the pot and laid her hands on her hips, smiling to herself, she spoke. 

“Perfect, let it simmer for about an hour and…,” she began looking around the kitchen… suddenly looking confused. “Uh… where’s the…?” I rolled my optics, even in her own field, she still got lost. I thought that this would be the perfect time to let myself be known, I cleared my throat. She jumped.

“Dinomight!?” she squeaked out, I had to stiffen my laugh, that silly nickname she gave me, admitivily was kind of… cute… “What-- how? How long were you standing there?!” I walked into the kitchen, I was surprised how clean it was.

“The timer is in that cupboard… over there,” she looked at me confused for a moment, only to make an “oh” shape with her mouth. She went to the one I pointed at, opened it and, once again, looked confused. I raised a brow. “What?” I asked.

“Uh… this uses a time system I’ve never seen before, these symbols are completely foreign to me,” she pointed at, what was to me, the equivalent to an egg timer. I took it, gave it a glance, then looked behind her. She was using ingredients that were labeled in Cybertronian… 

“I can only expect that cooking was… difficult for you…,” I pointed at the few ingredients she still had out, she shrugged.

“I could give most of those a small whiff or taste to know what they were,” she pointed at the timer “I don’t even know if you guys use minutes and hours… do you?” I rolled my eyes, she was completely helpless… I pointed at the screen and showed her how to change the times on it.

“This is a cycle, it’s like your minute, 100 of these is is a mega-cycle, about an hour, got it?” She took the timer and smiled. 

“Thanks, Di, that really helped, I just gotta put this in for about a mega-cycle,” she giggled “That’s fun to say,” she fixed the time and stood looking at it like she had accomplished something. “Perfect!” 

She went over to the sink, washed her hands, and asked “So, you never answered my question, how long were you watching me cook?” Scrap, I’d hoped she would have forgotten about that… 

“Optimus has told me to be your… bodyguard, he seems to think you trust me,” I scoffed. She looked back at me and smiled. 

“He’s not wrong, you know that right?” Her answer surprised me, if I were to be honest. And then there was that smile… why did my spark jump again? Why did I want to touch her? Why did I feel so… vulnerable?

**OOooOOooOOooOO**

**Elisa’s POV**

The confused look on his face was adorable. My face felt warm as I turned back to the stew. Meat stew to be exact, deer, elk, and a miscellaneous meat I couldn’t identify, with fresh garlic, onion, carrots, potatoes, celery, and one red beet. I didn’t know what else I put in the stew (thanks to not knowing what any of those labels meant), but when I took a taste, it was pretty good, in my opinion. It just needed some salt, but the boys could just add however much they want-- you don’t care, sorry…

At any rate, Di’s reaction to what I had said was down right cute. His face went all flustered and was silent for a good minute. Call me evil all you want, seeing a giant man blush like a schoolgirl was as funny as it was adorkable. 

“What?” He asked, almost blankly.  _ Welcome back to the world of the composed, Dinobot. He he _ . I thought to myself. 

“He’s right. I don’t know why, but I do trust you. Maybe I have damsel-in-distress syndrome,” oh, I was going to have at least a little fun with him. Flirtatious mode: on(to be honest I was gonna to say I was kidding unless he was into it. So imma hypocrite, sue me). He tilted his head, as I gave him a side eye with a small smirk. 

“You know,” I walked closer to him. “A young woman saved by a…,” I put my hand on his chest and batted my eyes… I was actually really regretting this… so bad… “Tall, dark, and handsome, strapping man, finds herself head over heels for him,” 

_ AAHH! ELISA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! OH, GOD, OH, GOD, REVERSE! ABORT MISSION! ABORT MISSION!!  _ But at the same time, I was, already,  _ way _ too deep in this. I was just going to take the-- wait a minute…

He was completely silent, he looked like his brain had just stopped working… and his chest… I tilted my head and put my ear up to it. He had a heartbeat? It sounded like electricity mixed with a heartbeat, and it sounded like it was about to break out of his chest.

**OOooOOooOOooOO**

**Dinobot’s POV**

I was going to kill her. You don’t just put your head on someone’s chest and think it’s okay! I was thankful that she, almost, refused to look up at me, no amount of training could get me to not… emote at that moment. She was so warm, and small, I felt my face warm up to an uncomfortable level… while I tried to tell her to get off me, my mouth and processor seemed to have a malfunctioned, because I only made strange groaning noises.

Though, thankfully, she must have understood what I was trying to say. She quickly pushed herself off me, her face a… bright purple.

“Sorry, sorry! I just, noticed you were, uh, acting weird, and then I felt something in your chest a-and, uh…,” her arms flailed around like a drunk bird, as she tried (and failed) to explain herself. She was mocking me… wasn’t she?

That had to be the reason, she was making fun of me! My eyes narrowed, glaring daggers at her, I finally spoke.

“Do you really think I’m too stupid to realize when someone is mocking me?” her eyes widened in pure shock and honest pain. I quickly regretted what I had said.

“What? No, why would you think that?” she asked, her voice sounded so dejected. I felt like I had just kicked a puppy.

“Di…,” she came closer to me, again, and touched my face, there was that damned warm feeling again… “I would never mock you. Tease you; yes, but mock? Please, I love you way to much for that,” ... what? She what? 

Of course, before she could elaborate, she turned to the food. She muttered a “crap” before grabbing a ladle and stirring it. Muttering to herself in a language I didn’t understand. She sighed in relief as she took a sip of it.

“Thank God, it’s not burned at the bottom, I alway forget if it's the stews or the stir-fry I need to worry about…,” I was not sure if she was talking to me, or to herself. Knowing her, it was probably… both… 

“And, yes, Dinobot. I did say that I love you,” It was… strange to her someone say that, there were times when I would hear other people say it to one another, but no-one had ever…

“I love everyone here; Optimus, Rattrap, Cheetor, Rhinox, you…,” She turned back towards me, a warm smile spread across her face. She looked like a beam of light. “Because, now, you’re my family,” she, then, flexed her near non-existent muscles, putting on hand on her arm and continued, “And as the woman of the house, it is my God-given right to do the best I can for the men that saved my life, and who are helping me try to find my way back home,”

When she said this, it completely baffled me. Why would anybody have that mindset? All I had ever happen to me, were people would… take, and take, and take. Money was all I would get back, and maybe not even that. So to see this woman, this strange creature wish to work, just because she wanted to repay something so simple… This was a concept almost entirely foreign to me. 

Her tail swayed back and forwards to her humming. It was not the song she had sang before, in fact, it sounded like dribble she sprouted from her head as it came to her. 

I decided to sit down on the table, and watched her blankly. My mind just began to wander, allowing myself to just drift in my own abstract thoughts. For that moment, I was content. There was nothing, but me, and my thoughts. I felt myself drift, and float to the beat of nothingness.

“Um… Di? Are… are you okay?” my mind was quickly reeled back to reality when Elisa spoke. She was leaning in front of me, with a… concerned look on her face.

“Yes, I am… fine,” I tried to ignore her slightly exposed chest as I spoke. “Just letting my mind wander, is all,”

“While staring at me? My, my, how naughty~,” I looked up at her, shocked.

“T-that’s not what I--!”

“Calm down, I was teasing,” she laughed “I do the same thing with my dad, though, he would usually stare at the captain when I did that…,”

Desperate to change the subject, I decided to ask about her father.

“You keep speaking of your father… what is he like?” her eyes light up like a bright flame, and her mouth curled into an almost childlike smile, when she spoke.

“Daddy is the best! He’s the Marine Major of the  _ U.S.S. Tippecanoe _ , and a total badass!” she had such pride in her voice as she spoke of him, using her hands, as well as her mouth to talk, “Where I come from, there are these people called the Andromedans, who we’ve never seen, so when they board ships, they send robots to attack the crew!...

**OOooOOooOOooOO**

“There my dad was, surrounded by three or four Andromedan Boarding Party Robotic Units, with two scared and injured crew members behind him. The only thing stopping the things from killing the two crew members was my daddy, with nothing but a big metal pipe and an even bigger attitude! He killed two of them, but not without a cost…,”

She had already told this story to me by the time the others had heard. We were all at the table now, empty clean bowls in front of us. Elisa had called the others to the kitchen only minutes before dinner was ready. And so, to pass the time, she decided to retell what she had already told me.

She went over to the pot and turned off the flame, grabbing our bowls and filling them up with the stew.

“So! Tell us what happened!” Cheetor eagurly begged, as Elisa put each bowl down at their respective owners.

“Yeah, what happened to old daddy dearest?” The vermin Rattrap asked, trying not to sound like he wanted to know more. Elisa smiled, licked her lips, and continued.

“While the others were trying to escape, my father killed the first with one fell swoop,” Optimus and I moved our bowls off when she slammed the table, making it rattle. The other’s grabbed their’s a little too late, making small puddles as she looked at them sheepishly. “Sorry, just, emphasising…,” Elisa sat down with a bowl of her own, and sighed with content.

“He wasn’t so lucky with the other two though… daddy first had his eye ripped out of his socket, leaving a giant scar…,” she pointed to the top of her right eye, and made a sliding motion down her face, “right here. Then, the other ripped his left (and dominant) arm clean off…,” when speaking of this part, both the times I heard it, she seemed to shudder. “But daddy, did he back down? Heck, no! He was a maine, through and through. He would fight to the death for the people he cared about; for the people he served with,” she clutched her hand in triumph ending her story.

“With his only one arm, my dad was able to fend off the Boarding Party Robots till the cavalry arrived. After that, my dad had to go through months of training just to be able to use his arm properly again. He became partly ambidextrous because of it,” grabbing her spoon, Elisa slowly stirred her steaming stew. Rhinox tilted his head.

“After all that, he still stayed in… uh, what is your military called?” Elisa chuckled.

“StarFleet, and yes, he did,”

Optimus put his hand on Elisa’s shoulder “He sounds like a good man,” I could see Elisa’s smile wanning a bit, she patted Primal’s hand, and nodded.

“He told me, after that happened, that it made him want to stay in StarFleet more than ever,” she looked up, her face reflecting, what I could only guess was, sorrow. “My father: Marine Major Aaron Burr Jackson, knew the risks, he fights for the people he loves, and someday, I want to be as strong as him…,”

There was a brief moment of silence before she spoke again.

“What are we doing, talking about my family, let’s eat!” she got up to grab, what I could only assume, was salt, and peppered it in her stew. The others and I followed suit, stirring this mystery food. It smelled heavenly.

I took a small bite, but was surprised when it tasted just as good as it smelled. I am no food critic, so I could never describe how it tasted to you, but it was a hearty, good meal. The others seemed to agree with me. While Rhinox, Optimus, and myself were savoring every bite, the vermin and Cheetor were scarfing it down like it was the last meal of their lives! This irritated me slightly as I tried ignoring them. I wasn’t going to let their stupidity get in the way of this fine stew.

Maybe, having this woman around… wouldn’t be so bad...


	5. Chapter 5

**Elisa’s POV**

It was necessary for me to follow them this time. I had learned that I was much faster on all fours, and could keep up with them rather well in doing so, and learning of thing that looked  _ way _ too familiar for my taste, I just didn’t know where from. It was a large monument that, from above, looked like it was shaped like a keyhole, with a large pile of stones perfectly laid in the middle. Optimus had his version of a tricorder in his ape paw. I thought about taking mine, but the last time I did, the readings were so garbled that I couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

“This isn’t a natural stone formation,” Rhinox concluded. “Somebody,  _ somehow _ , built this thing…,” Yeah, if this was natural, then I was a black belt in karate. 

Rattrap, uncomfortably muttered.

“Yeah, well, uh, excuse my error message, but, uh… I thought this planet was uninhabited…,” I piped up.

“Well maybe someone decided they wanted a vacation to this planet, and, um…,” I thought for a second and shrugged “Got bored and wanted to build something? I don't know,”

“Something else is odd…,” Optimus said, perplexed, “I’m getting an Energon reading,” he gestured towards the center. “It's under that pile of rocks,” that didn’t sound good…

“Just like baitin’ the mousetrap,” Rattrap shuttered.

“Oh, the irony. Maybe you should go up there and check it out, RT,” I chuckled jokingly, rewarding me a dirty look from him, and a light chuckle from Dinobot.

“I… second that motion,” he purred, lifting his claw up in the air.

“Oh, ha, ha you two, real funny…,” Rattrap groaned.

“I thought it was,” I replied, getting a few more chuckles from the others, but as quickly as that lightheartedness came, it left. Dinobot getting closer to the rock pile.

“You know…,” Rhinox began, “The Energon on this planet doesn’t fit with its geology,” he looked around “Hard to believe that it could form naturally…,” Considering that this was very much an M-Class planet, and knowing that Energon looked more like a, what was it called, Cybertronian element, it would come to no shock that it was most likely not natural. But the question remained, who put it there?

Di grabbed one of the many rocks on the pile, and threw it to the ground, grunting as he did so. 

“However it got here, we must remove it!” Di roared to particularly no one, “Before the Predacons do…,” I… couldn’t really argue with that logic… I was going to help walking towards him, but then… there was a loud thumping…

“Ah, Dinobot,” a deep, sultry voice permeated the area. I voice that I didn’t know… Oh, God… “That Predacon chip still ticks in your treacherous hide,” there before us stood a large, violet, Tyrannosaurus Rex, he was bigger than even me. I felt my skin crawl as I looked upon him. While, when I met Optimus, I felt nothing, but kindness, and respect, but with this person, whom I presumed was Megatron, I felt nothing but hate, and malice melting from every orphus of his being.

Instinctively, I hid behind Di, but my movements had only privied Megatron to my presence.

“Oh. And what might that be?” he pointed towards me, I whimpered. Dinobot, protectively stood in front of me, growling.

“None of your concern, Megatron!” Optimus yelled, getting the other’s to join Di in front of me. Dear Lord I was useless… “Whatever qualms we have, she’s not part of it!” …  _ WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT!? NOW I’M GONNA BE A TARGET! ...I’m so screwed… _

“Right now, she doesn’t matter to me, but whatever this is… I think we  _ shall _ take it.  _ Yes~ _ ,” Four Predacons came behind him, all, literally, shouting their names while screaming “Terrorize!”. Waspinator, Terrorsaur, Tarantulas, and Scorponok were their names, and screwing us over was there game.

I wasn’t dumb enough to forget my phaser, again, but I wasn’t sure how well I would do fighting these guys. All I knew was, I had to try.

As soon as they came out, we were under heavy fire. Me, Rattrap, and Di ran behind one of the pillars, while the others went behind the rock pile.

“Man, your old friends don’t miss a beat, do they?!” RT groan, clearly agitated. Ignoring him, Dinobot yelled.

“Dinobot; Maximize!” both he and Rat transforming before my eyes. I could never get tired of that. I charged my phaser, ready to fight at any minute.

“Keep them away from the crystal!” Optimus ordered to us. “And protect Elisa!” Correction, ordered  _ them _ . Rat, however, complained.

Oh, yeah, sure. Give  _ us _ the dirty work!”

“I’ll give you cover fire,” I said to both of them. “I got your backs, if you got mine,” they both nodded. Rat shot at Scorponok’s feet, and Chi was helping him, giving me time to find a target of my own. They shot him down with ease, Cheetor even cheered a bit, but not before Tarantulas came in from behind. I took my aim, and fired, center mass. Making him go flying a few inches. Holy crap, I actually hit him! Chi gave me a thankful thumbs-up, and I nodded in acknowledgement. 

“Fliers: Incoming!” Rhinox yelled, as Waspinator and Terrorsaur came in for the dive.

“Their mine!” Optimus shouted, shoot in himself in the air to catch the Fliers. I didn’t get to see what happened next, I was too busy covering Di’s aft to notice that one of the Fliers had shot at the crystal, making it explode in the process. I was still hiding behind one of the pillars, so the brunt of the force didn’t affect me.

“Terrorsaur! You fool!” I heard Megatron yell, “You’ve released the crystal’s energy, it is useless to us now!” he growled. “Back to base, Beast mode!”

They ran, as we regrouped, hearing the crystal get louder and louder.

“Everyone Beast mode, we need to take cover, and prepare of an Energon wave!” Optimus ordered. He didn’t have to tell me twice. They transformed and we hightailed it out of there.

We hid behind a few rocks, as the crystal sent out a shock wave, yes, but it felt very… specific… I saw a blue light fly into the sky and disappeared as quickly as it came.

“Like I said: those stones aren't natural…,” Rhinox stated, I kinda glared at him.

“Anything else you’d like to point out Captain Obvious?” that fight must have fried my nerves, I usually didn’t snap at people like that… the others looked at me confused as I muttered a simple “Sorry” and looked back at the rubble.

“Still what in the Galaxy was that?” Cheetor asked.

“It looked like it was a signal,” Rhinox answered, looking a bit hurt as he looked at me. Why’d he have to make me feel like that? “But, to who?”

“Well, perhaps we’ll learn the answer, someday,” Optimus said, looking up at the sky.

**OOooOOooOOooOO**

We went back to the base, a little roughed up, but no worse for wear. I had a few scratches here and there. There was no need for me, or really anyone, to be in the CR chamber. Personally, I’d think that was a win. I was literally thinking of what to make for dinner, when Optimus came charging in.

“Get me Rhinox,” I looked at him confused, I could only guess what had gotten him so worked up.

“He’s up in the lab. Is everything ok?” Optimus simply nodded and went to go get our resident medic.

**OOooOOooOOooOO**

**Dinobot’s POV**

I was in my quarters, practicing and honing my swordsmanship, when I heard someone at my door. I had always taking my studies in the arts very seriously, so when someone would so… rudely interrupt me, I tended to get very much on edge.

“What! I’m busy!” I growled towards the door. It opened, and in came Primal, an unimpressed look on his face.

“Hi, Busy, I’m Optimus. Now come out here, I need to talk to you,” I rolled my eyes, but did what he asked.

“When, pray tell, did you start making ‘dad jokes’,” I questioned, to only get a sly response in return.

“When I realized I was leading a group of sparklings…,” I ignored that blatented attack on my pride, and asked what he wanted.

“We found something headed straight for the standing stones, I need you to come with me to check it out, it might give us a clue on what it is,” Honestly, I would have rather stayed and trained, but then again, this could be a way to defeat them. Or at the very least, weaken them. With a sigh, I nodded.

“Give me a moment,” I closed the door to get ready.

**OOooOOooOOooOO**

We walked towards the pod. It looked completely alien, even to us.

“Yes, looks like somebody answered that signal,” Optimus thought aloud “But, who?” I looked at him. About to say something, as well as he beginning to transform when, out of nowhere, he was shot, obviously by a Predacon. I turned back to see that it was Waspinator, and Megatron was not far behind. He sighed in a way that always made my skin crawl.

“Whatever this fascinating device is, we Predacons claim it as our own!  _ Yes~, _ ” Megaron growled, staring down at me. Just like he did when we first met, he had always looked down upon me… I snarled defensively. “Megatron; Terrorize!”

“Dinobot; Maximize!” as he transformed I did as well, keeping myself close to my blade. I heard Optimus groan behind me, I checked, only for a moment, before I heard the pod begin to make a sound. I didn’t have time to think before the thing unleashed a shock that made my body quake in pain and anguish. It felt like all of the Energon that was in me was tearing me apart! I… admittedly, screamed because of it. After what ever had happened, I looked to see where Optimus had been, with blurred vision I could see nothing, but a flash of light. 

I lifted my hand to where he had once laid, a small hint of worry sparking through my processor. I whispered “Optimus…,” before I blacked out.

**OOooOOooOOooOO**

**Elisa’s POV**

When Dinobot nor Optimus had come back, we were starting to worry. Rhinox had told Chi and Rat to go find them, and when they did, they only brought back one. Di was nearing death’s door when he came back. He must’ve transformed to conserve his energy while he was unconscious, because he was in beast mode when he came back to base.

I was so fearful that he wouldn’t make it that I scooped him up on my back (Lord, please let him never find out) and thrusted him into the CR chamber. He laid there, for at least an hour. All of us waiting for him to wake up, and get some answers. Where was Optimus?

When he finally came to, he looked… scared, confused. His eyes widened as he screamed.

“Maximal torture chamber!” and ran out as quickly as he could. Literally jumping over and on Rattrap to get away. Thinking fast, I hopped on his back and bit down on his neck. Hard. He yelped in surprise, but calmed down after I let him go. His spark (as I learned it was called) had stopped beating rapidly, as he slouched just a little.

“H-hey, Dinobot, you okay, buddy?” Cheetor asked cautiously. Di was breathing a little heavy, but he was fine.

“Affirmative…,” he groaned, as I got off his back. He looked at me, and rubbed where my tusks had bitten into his neck.

“First of all, Maximals don’t have torture chambers!” Rat corrected, but then put his hand on his chin, “Although, you know, I could get behind that idea…,” I rolled my eyes, and looked towards Di. Pulling his hand away from the two holes I had made in his skin. As I had suspected, they were already closing up.

“What did you do to me?” he asked, I just smiled.

“It’s something I learned a while back, I have these glands in my tusks that secretes a chemical that can make even the most aggressive creature docile,” I pointed to the two large bottom teeth that were too big for my mouth, “I can control the dosage depending on how long I bite you, and afterwards, my saliva has another chemical that closes up the wound within minutes,” I then pointed at his neck, the abrasion was nearly completely gone.

“With that being said…,” he muttered, gingerly pushing my hand away. “How did I get here?”

“We went looking for you after you and Optimus hadn’t come back,” Rhinox answered “You were alone, and Elisa was so worried after we found you that she didn’t even wait for the platform to come up all the way before scooping you up and carrying you to the CR chamber,” I blushed, and looked over at Di. he looked dumbfounded.

“You carried me?” he asked, and I simply nodded.

“T-that doesn’t matter,” I managed to stutter out, “What matters is that you were alone… what happened to the Big Bot?” 

“Don’t tell me Optimus just up and left ya?” Rattrap accused “Like a little orphan in a B-movie…,” the sarcasm in his voice was very apparent. I glared at him.

“Can you please, for once give him the benefit of the doubt, Rat?” I groaned, “He literally thought we were gonna torture him! That should scrounge up  _ some  _ sympathy!”

“Oh, I think you’re doin’ enough ‘scrounging’ of the both of us,” he retorted.

“What’s that supposed to mean!?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about, Aqua Fresh… don't think I don't see it…,” he pointed an accusing finger at me, and then at Di. “The only thing you haven’t done is beg him to plow yo--,” he was interrupted by a punch in the face by none other than Dinobot himself, who had transformed while running towards Rattrap. The others were nearly as quick to hold Di back from tearing into him.

“Take it back, you son of a bitch!” Di shouted, his voice booming through the  _ Axelon _ .

“Dinobot, you need to calm down!”

“Hey, hey, cool your circuits, big guy!”

The others were doing everything in their power to keep Di from killing Rat, but I just stood there, flabbergasted. He was… defending me?

“You would  _ dare _ dishonor her like that? You are no more than a vermin! A trash eating low-life who smells as if he sleeps in a barrel of piss!”

Holy… why was he doing this? I thought he hated me… yeah sure, his spark did do flips when I touched him that  _ one time _ , but I was messing with him, he didn’t actually have feelings for me. Did he?

“Yeah, well you’re no better, Chopper Face,” Rattrap finally growled back, rubbing the part of his face Dinobot hit. “Why don’t you two get a Primus-damned room, and slag each other!”

“That’s enough, Rattrap!” I had finally had enough, stomping my foot in anger. “Both of you need to knock it off, or I’ll shove my foot so far up  _ both  _ your asses, the water from my knee will quench your thirst!” I looked at both of them threateningly, and then said “Or I’ll bite you so hard, you’ll be out cold for a week, you got that…,” I was mostly talking to Rattrap. That was completely uncalled for.

We stood there for what seemed like an eternity, before I noticed Di had relaxed. His muscles looked like they laxed and the aura of death that was emanating from him had finally subsided.

“Now, I want both of you to apologize to each other,” I continued.

“What? Why should I--,”Di began, before I interrupted him.

“Just do it, okay. Just shake hands and apologize,” The two men groaned as they clasped each others’ hands.

“I’m sorry, Chopper Face… that was…,” Rat groaned “It was very inconsiderate, what I said about you and Elisa…,” he mumbled something else but I didn't hear.

“And I…,” Dinobot reluctantly said, “apologize for… adding another dent to your face,”

“Good, good,” I nodded approvingly, a smirk spreading across my face, “Now, kiss,” 

They both responded with a “Slag, no!” letting go of the others’ hand to my, Rhinox’s, and Chi’s light laughter. That was probably the best I was gonna get out of those two.

“Though, my question still stands…,” I continued, “Where’s Optimus?” Di went silent, then looked away. “Dinobot, honey…,” I grabbed his shoulders, “Where’s our Primal?”

“Optimus Primal…,” he began “Has been terminated…,” a small, evil part of me thought, for only a moment, that he was happy about that. But with another look, he seemed genuinely shaken by it. He almost seemed sorrowful, then again, that could have been my bias thinking that.

The others looked shaken by the notion, Cheetor gasping at the words. But Rat didn’t seem too convinced.

“There is an alien probe that has landed at the standing stones…,” he muttered “It emitted an energy burst during Optimus’ transformation… he vanished…,”

“Wait a minute,” Rhinox finally spoke up, “Why was he transforming?”

“A Predacon attack!” Di blurted out, “We have not time for further analysis now! We must make another attempt to secure the probe from the Predacons!” he stared at Rat. “Rattrap, come with me,”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, stand by here. I knows you’re still pissed about what I said to Aqua Fresh, but who died and made you Prime, scale-face?!”

“Optimus is certainly scrap, and  _ I _ , as the most powerful of the group, shall replace him. Anyone who disagrees, may challenge me, now!” Di retorted, pulling his sword out, ready for battle. _ Still going for that leading role I see, Love _ …

“You’ve been messing with the wrong mouse, Chopper Face,” Rattrap’s ice cold anger dripped venomously from his lips, as he pointed his gun strait at Di’s face. Ah, heck no, you ain’t doing that.

“Wait! We’re not Predacons here,” Rhinox interrupted, just before I could do anything.

“Either of you hurt each other, and I will bite both of you…,” I muttered just loud enough for them to hear me.

“We’ll settle the chain of command in traditional, Maximal fashion,” he glared at both of them. “By secret ballot,” that’d do it.

We all grabbed a data pad, having only two options; neither of them very good.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved Di, and wouldn’t mind if he became the leader (though he would probably make sure I’d never leave the  _ Axelon _ ) and Rattrap probably did have  _ some  _ semblance of good leadership skills… but still, the others were really no better…

I guess, just out of sense of loyalty, I decided to pick Dinobot, simply because I knew him a little better than Rat… also, Rattrap nearly called me a whore, so there was that… 

A little while later, we all assembled in the main corridor of the ship. Each picked their preferred candidate. 

“One vote for Rattrap,” Rhinox began, as he read off his own data pad. Rat had a smug look on his face. “One vote for Dinobot. One more vote for Rattrap, and…,” Rhinox looked shocked, checking his data pad again, and then looked up. “Two for Dinobot…,” 

“What?!” was all of our, except Di’s, reaction. What a twist… I didn’t think anyone except me and himself would vote for Di… but I guess I was wrong. Heh, the universe is full of surprises.

“What the hell!” Rattrap yelled “Which one of you-you traitors voted for the Predacon?” he pointed an accusing finger at both Cheetor and Rhinox. I almost wanted to raise my hand, but then again, he probably already knew…

“It’s a secret ballot, no-one has to say who they voted for,” Rhinox answered. He then looked over to our, now, new leader.

“Also, he’s not a Predacon anymore, Rattrap,” I said with a smile. 

To be honest, I expected Di to say something snarky, but instead, smirked and looked over to Rattrap. I, then, socked him in the shoulder.

“Congratulations,” I said with a genuine smile, “Commander,” he laughed, puffing his chest out proudly. “Don't screw this up,” he looked back at me, an unamused look on his face.

“Rhinox, I need you to keep an eye on Elisa while Rattrap and--,” he was cut short by a voice… Optimus’ voice. God, dang it…

“Maximals, come in!” It sounded like it was coming from Sentinel. “Are you receiving! Maximal command base, this is Optimus!” Oh, really? I thought it was the tooth fairy… 

Rhinox walked towards Sentinel, sounding happy to hear our leader’s voice. “Optimus? Optimus, this is Rhinox, where are you?” there was static and then Optimus’ voice again.

“Hard to say,” he spoke “As near as I can figure, I-I have no body! My consciousness is intact, but my physical molecular structure’s being stored and scanned inside the alien probe,” Rat pushed his way through, forcing Rhinox to move. 

“Hey, we’ll come and get ya, just keep static!”

“Just beware of a Predacon attack,” Optimus continued “they’ll be coming after you, now that you’re outnumbered. Rattrap, You’re in charge!” First of all: thanks for letting me know I’m useless Commander… and second: Oh, no no no no no! I wasn’t gonna let this stand, we had a vote, and by God, I was gonna stick to it. 

“Optimus!” It was my turn to push my way through. “Sir, we had already had a vote before you called and Dinobot was the winner of said democratic vote,” I looked over to find Rat glaring at me, and mouthing something like “I’m gonna kill you, Aqua Fresh…”. The silence on the other line was deafening. 

“Rhinox, is this true?” The way Optimus said that almost sounding like he wanted to be a practical joke. 

“Yes, sir. Elisa speaks the truth…,” said Rhino answered. Once again, there was silence…

“Alright, fine, we really don’t have time to argue, Dinobot!” Di raised his head to the Commander’s words. “Bring my team back in one piece, please…,”

“The likelihood of me killing off your troops is… unlikely,” Di answered, then looked at me, “I have been told that it is not tactically sound…,”

Almost immediately, blaster fire could be heard, hitting the hull of the ship. I yelped, falling onto Rattrap. He made an “oof” sound as I toppled over him. 

“Hey, so this is what it’s like down here,” I tried to joke. 

“Shut up and get off of me!” Rat yelled, pushing back into an upright position. 

“Come,” Di shouted, “we don’t have time to waste,” he was so cool… did I really just think that? “We shall go for frontal assault, if we stay here, we’ll be buried alive. But the likelihood of survival is… minuscule…,”

“Well, ain’t you a bucket of laughs,” Rattrap muttered. 

“Rhinox,” Di continued “as much as I would hate to say this; find out how to extract Optimus Primal from that alien probe,” Rhinox nodded, though a little on edge. “Elisa, I need you to come with us,” I was surprised. 

“What? Why?”

“Because, you give us numbers. And your toxic tusks may come in handy,” another boom resonates through the halls, when I looked at him worried. “You have my back, I have yours,” he said, assuringly, I looked at him with more confidence, and nodded. 

“C’mon, guys, we gotta go, NOW!” Chi finally shouted, as we left the building. Unbeknownst to me, I had left my only weapon in my room. I ran out their completely defenseless… 

**OOooOOooOOooOO**

The blaster kept coming while we lowered down to the ground, and immediately, ran towards our assaulters full force. Me finally realizing I wasn’t armed. Crap! 

“Ah,” I heard Megatron shout, “they’ve come to meet their deaths face to face!”  _ Honey, if anyone was gonna die today, it sure as hell ain’t gonna be us! _

Di ran first, hitting a striking blow to Megatron’s face. Knocking him down on the process. I decided to follow Cheetor and Rattrap, knowing I was no match for the Leader of the Predacons. If it were possible that Dinobot needed help, I would be the first to give him a hand. 

I ran quickly. Dodging as may lasers as I could, having only a few graze my skin as I ran at Tarantulas from the side. My jaw unhinged, I aim to pounce, only to get backhanded into a rock behind him. I felt the back of my head begin to pound. I shook away as much pain as I could, deciding to attack while his back was facing me. 

But there was no point, because Terrorsaur stood before me. 

“Nuh, uh, uh. I don’t think so toots,” he pointed his phaser-- blaster at me. “I thought I smelled something different when I walked around the Maximal base,” he came closer to me, twitching his finger, trying to startle me. “Who would have thought it was a weird fish thing,” I unhinged my jaw once more and pounced. 

This time, I finally had the drop on him, biting into his neck and holding on tight. My tucks digging deep into his flesh, he squealed like a pig. Or, at least, I assume he sounded like a pig, never really heard what they sounded like, so… at any rate, he screamed. 

“Hey! Stupid female! Get off of me!” He started punching my head, but that only made me bite even harder! In what felt like an eternity, but was really only a few seconds, he dropped. I growled, kicking Terrorsaur’s unconscious body. 

“My name is Elisa you twat…,” and ran to help the Dinobot. 

I realized that I needed to change tactics a bit. I couldn’t just keep pouncing or I’d get predictable, so I ran up to Megatron, and grabbed ahold of his waist, surprising him. 

“Oh, ho, you again, yes~,” Megatron’s voice made my blood curdle. He grabbed hold of me, and lifted me a few centimeters in the air, I saw Di quickly run at Megatron, hitting him with his sword. 

“Your battle is with me, Megatron!” Di yelled, twisting his sword around to get Megatron’s attention. I took this opportunity to remember what Dinobot had said that time we fought.  _ Legs _ . I pulled said legs up, and kicked Megatron square in the face, making him drop me and fall right onto Di. I roared. 

“My name is Elisa Stargazer Jackson! And I will kill anyone who hurts my family!” I ran towards Megatron full force, noticing something beside me. Di was next to me, holding his sword like a spear, shouting a battle cry. I joined him, and like a symphony of death, me on all fours, jaw unhinged and tongue flapping in the wind, and him roaring with nothing but vengeance on his mind. We were like an unstoppable force. 

Dinobot did something I’d never seen him do. His eyes went white and then turned green as two emerald beams shot from his eyes. They hit their intended target as I sunk my tusks into Megatron’s shoulder. With his tyrannosaurus rex head grabbed my leg and tried to pry me off, he bit so hard I could feel my leg begin to break, and felt the warm blood oozing from the holes that created. I groaned in pain. 

“Just give up, little one, you can’t--,” 

“Elisa! Let go!” I heard Di’s wonderful voice flood my ears as I did as he asked. He grabbed Megatron’s tyrannosaurus head, prying it open allowing my leg through. I pulled it away, and unwillingly screamed from the pain that shot through my leg. It was snapped in two. 

Dinobot wrapped his arms around Megatron’s other head (he he, see what I did there) and threw him a few meters away from the  _ Axelon _ . 

The Predacons talked with themselves and then ran as quickly as they came. The pain that didn’t register before, certainly came at its full when things began to settle. I felt… sick. 

I saw my family look like they were getting electrocuted, and reverted to their beast modes. Each of them walked to me. 

“Oh, Primus! Elisa, your leg!” Cheetor shouted it terror… it hurt so bad. I tried to look at it, but as quickly as I had, Di put his claw over my eyes. 

“Don’t look,” was all he said, only then learning that Cybertronian’s sweat… Rattrap headbutted Dinobot’s side and hissed. 

“This is your fault, she should have stayed behind and helped Rhinox, but no! You had to add her!” Rat growled at Di, then added, “Now, we’re down a team player! I knew I should have gotten Optimus to change his mind!”

“And do you think you could have done any better, Rattrap!?” Di retorted, baring his teeth and growling. He took his hand off my eyes. “If she had stayed inside, we would have been outnumbered!”

“Then why didn’t you let Rhinox--,”

“Please… stop,” I begged, lifting my hand to touch Di’s shoulder. “Optimus is in danger, and bickering won’t help… I’ll be fine if you just go…,” I try to move, but grunted, feeling the dulling pain spread through me. The familiar thump of Rhinox’s running footsteps ringing through my ears. 

“Rhinox! Thank Primus, E’s hurt, her leg is busted!” Cheetor exclaimed hysterically, I was flattered that they cared so much. “We just need to put her in the CR chamber, right?” Rhinox only took one look at me before shaking his head. 

“No can do, we put her in there the way she is now, her leg will never work the same, again” Rhinox looked over at a confused Cheetor. I decided to try and elaborate. 

“If my… leg heals all crooked like that… it’ll stay like that…,” 

“We can’t risk the CR chamber, it has to heal naturally,” Rhinox looked up at a very worried Dinobot, who cleared his throat. 

“Rhinox, are you finished with the machine?” He looked over his shoulder. Rhinox nodded. “Good, Rattrap; go find some long tough grass. Cheetor; find two similar long sticks that could hold Elisa’s weight,” the others nodded and went their separate ways. He then looked back at Rhinox. “Go get the machine,” with that, we were alone. I had a feeling he made both Chi and Rat leave is because he wanted to be alone. He grabbed my broken leg, and looked up at me. 

“That was idiotic, charging at Megatron like that…,” he muttered, then suddenly, I heard a loud “CRACK!” and I screamed, I had given up on not crying from the pain a long time ago… I whimpered when I noticed that a raptor face was blocking the sun. I looked up at him, wondering if he thought that I was weak. Did he? He continued, I felt one of his claws stroking my jawline. “If I thought it was possible to keep you inside, I would have done it, but that doesn’t mean I allow you to fight the most dangerous enemy we have. I only kept Rhinox in because he would know how to make something to save Optimus…,”

Tears still streaming my face, I smiled, “Gee, what are you saying? That you… like me or something?” He turned away, I would consider that a “yes” I painfully chuckled. 

“You put yourself on too high a pedestal, Star Fall…,” he mumbled, my eyes widened. A wide smile spread across my face. 

“‘Star Fall’? I like it… it’s a lot more creative than ‘Dinomight’, heh heh-- ow!” He quickly looked over at my leg, I learned my lesson in not looking at the damage, unless I wanted another eye full of sweaty reptile hand… then again… I, instead, pulled my head back in pain, as he touched my leg. 

“It took me days just to think of that moronic name, and stop moving! It’s not helping anything,” he answered, but I shook my head. 

“No, no, I love it! It’s the most adorable, cute--,” I looked up at his disgusted face, I chuckled awkwardly, “I mean, the most magnificently warrior-like nickname--,” 

“Pushing it, Elisa…,” he moved away from my leg, seeming to notice the sweat beading from my forehead. It was strange, I was a mix of hot and cold-blood, I loved the heat like a lizard, but could sweat. I wondered if that was normal for any reptile. At any rate, I was sweating so much that my hair was sticking to my forehead, covering my eyes. Dinobot, with a clawed finger, moved it to the side, before he could pull it away, however, I grabbed it. 

“Di…,” I began, my mind racing, I didn’t even know why I had grabbed him. I held his raptor claw with only one of mine, it was kinda funny looking, if I were to be completely honest. He looked back at me, tilting his head, as if to ask me to continue, but before saying anything, Rhinox came out with the machine, both me and Dinobot letting go of each other. I could almost see a hint of a blush on his face as he turned away from me. 

“I have it ready, Commander,” Rhinox looked at both of us, I could just see a little bit of his face, as he mused an “Mm hmm~,” making Di clear his throat. 

“Good, now we must wait for the others,” and we did, Cheetor came first. Dropping two good thick sticks next to my leg. Rattrap came next, after wrapping my leg, Di spoke again, “Cheetor, take St--,” he stuttered, then tried again, “ _ Elisa _ inside, make sure she’s safe, then catch up with us, do you understand?” Cheetor nodded, grabbing my waist, letting me limp to the platform. Before I was on it, though, I turned back. 

“Dinobot!” I yelled, making him turn around, I was unsure about his expression, “Come home to me safe, okay?” I smiled “It would really suck having to find a new bodyguard…,” he stood proudly, giving me a sharp-toothed grin. 

“Don’t miss me too much, Star Fall,” with that, the last thing I saw was a dumbstruck Rattrap, and a ready Rhinox heading to the standing stones.

**OOooOOooOOooOO**

**Dinobot’s POV**

She was safe. I was an idiot, allowing such an unskilled fighter in battle. Especially against Megatron, she was no match for him. She was lucky to only come out of that with a broken leg, she could have lost it, had Megatron not wanted to go easy on her… just like me… she could have died… and it would have been my fault… 

Why do I care?! She was just a pawn of war! A thing… to be… sigh… I was growing soft… I hated that I knew what was happening; I was falling for her! The cursed nickname, the need to know that she’s alright, the constant singing in my processor, her smile… her voice… damn it all! Damn these Primus-forsaken feelings! She was driving me mad! I had never felt this way about anyone, and it angered me, to the point I didn’t even try to acknowledge it. My fragging spark couldn’t handle the pain of it all. 

We made it to the standing stones, Cheetor had caught up to us as quickly as I had expected. We transformed, while Rhinox tinkered with the machine. He sighed. 

“I’m not sure if this thing’s going to work, but it’s as ready as it's ever going to be,” I saw Rattrap sniff about, blaster in hand. 

“Eh, it’s too quiet here,” he muttered quietly “I thought for sure the Predacons would go for the probe,” of course, just as the vermin had said that, I heard a familiar voice. 

“Ah, ha, excellent prediction, Rattrap,” I looked over to see that stupid smug smile on his face, “Oh, and let us not forget, ‘Commander Dinobot’, yes~. How’s your little pet, I hope I didn’t hurt her too badly…,” I growled, the bastard… “I wonder, how much you’ll fail this time. Predacons, attack!” He, and his lackeys, ran quickly towards us, shooting at me and Rhinox. The leader and the worker, of course.

There was nothing but chaos, I ran for Megatron, barking orders for Rhinox to stay behind the probe, and telling Rattrap and Cheetor to cover him.

“Why don’t you go and cover him,  _ boss _ ,” not now, Vermin!

“Do as I say, Garbage Breath, or I shall throw you on front of Megatron as a distraction!” That shut him up, he growled and kept the other Preds busy. Megatron slammed into me, grabbing my neck and squeezing. I began to choke.

“Hello, ‘Commander Dinobot’,” My former leader spoke, with his smile never leaving his face. “Going up in the Maximal world, I see, why? Was it to hard to get ahead in the  _ real  _ world?” I kicked him away, and slashed at his abdomen, he groaned at the pain using his Tyrannosaurus head to bite at me, I moved away quickly before he touch me. There was a question that was gnawing at the back of my head.

“Why were you not shocked when you saw Elisa?” I thrusted my sword towards him as he slammed it away, and shot at me, scathing my armor from the heat of the blast. He chuckled.

“Oh, did you really think you could hide  _ that _ little secret from us? We’ve known about her from the beginning,” I landed a upper cut on him, he staggered, ran at me and kneed me in the gut. I gagged, tasting the acid from my stomach in my mouth. “But thank you for giving us your little pet’s name, she’d be a wonderful prize of war--,”

I rammed my head into his chest, slamming him into one of the standing stones, screaming in his face as I used his head as a punching bag. That pissed me off… I charged my laser eyes, I was going to melt this bastard’s face off, but he moved his head just in time.

“Rhinox!” I yelled, Megatron had pushed me off of him, dents and a missing tooth noticeable on his face. “Any time you’d like to get Optimus out would be appreciated!”

“The damn thing isn’t working! I need more time!” He shouted back at me, the frustration in his voice obviously. Megatron was getting ready for another attack, raising his right hand and aiming it's canon at me, I didn’t have time to dodge. He sent me flying, slamming me against the pod in a daze. I heard Rhinox say something about the standing stones being a single device, and saw in a blur someone coming closer to him. 

Then, there was the sound of his mini gun going off, that’s as much as I could see before being kicked in the head by Megatron. I coughed up energon as he grabbed ahold of my neck, forcing me to stare at him. 

“You honestly thought you could win? Against me? Even Optimus Primal himself couldn’t beat me, not indefinitely,” an explosion. That shut him up, the standing stones and the pod began to rumble and quake, the pod itself opening up. I forced myself out of his grip, watching in awe as the pod let out a beam of light to reveal Optimus Primal, himself. 

“Look who’s back,” Optimus said smugly, “and feeling prime!” He began shooting at the Predacons, leaving them unconscious on the ground. We all surrounded him, even I was relieved to see our leader return. 

“Way to go, Optimus! Welcome back!” Cheetor exclaimed, a wide smile plastered on his face. We saw Megatron begin to get up. He groaned. 

“The day, and the probe, is yours Optimus,  _ yes _ … just beware not all aliens are beneficent after all,” he limped away, like a scared dog with his tail between his legs. I had half a mind to power up my optics and shoot him, but I knew that wouldn’t have done anything productive. I looked over at Optimus, he had a proud smile on his face as he spoke. 

“Dinobot, you commanded well today. I’m glad I listened to Elisa and you as well,” I had to admit, I enjoyed the short time I was leader. The others  _ had  _ to respect me, and it seemed I was able to get a hold of them. But at the same time, Elisa had made me weak, she had been my priority when the Predacons had a lead on the standing stones. If it had been anything else time sensitive or life threatening, the whole operation would have been shot, or worse. She was my weakness, but then again, how was I to deny such praise. 

“Then I shall be waiting for the day to keel over and die, knowing now even you have my back,” I gave him a sharp toothed grin as he glared daggers at me, but then, surprisingly, smiled. 

“It’ll be a very long time before that happens, Dinobot,” before anything else could be said, the probe began to evaporate, confusion wisping through the party as it vanished… Damn it. 

**OOooOOooOOooOO**

**Elisa’s POV**

I was so worried when I finally heard the proximity alert, they were back! And they had Boss Bot with them! Oh, whatever holy power was in this world, thank you! With my poor broken leg I quickly wobbled towards the door as I waited happily for them as they came in. My tail swishing back and forth and my ears perked high. When I saw them ascend, I jumped onto the nearest bot that could hold my weight, and it just so happened to be Optimus. 

“You’re back!” I said, my smile never leaving me as I attached myself to Optimus, wrapping my arms and legs around him. He looked surprised by my hug, standing there confused for a moment before hugging me back. 

“Um… I-- I’m glad you missed me, Elisa, but could you please let go…,” he muttered, as I slowly got off of him, looking back to see the reactions of the others. 

Rhinox didn’t seemed to fazed by it, Rattrap and Cheetor had their mouths so open you could stick a rifle in them. But then there was Di… I couldn’t tell what his emotion was, his face looked blank and had a thousand mile stare… it worried me to be honest…

I saw Optimus look down at my leg, his brows furrowed. 

“Elisa, what happened to your leg?” 


	6. Chapter 6

**Elisa’s POV**

So… I figured out something… Dinobot… was _not_ a Velociraptor… he was a Deinonychus… you wanna know how I figured this out? Research. I should have known that those old dinosaur movies would fail me… what we’re they called again? _Cretaceous Playground_? Something like that. At any rate, I had decided to do some research on the planet and the creatures that lived here, including what Dinobot was, and to be honest; I quite liked how cool the dinosaur he chose sounded. 

_Deinonychus_. It sounded like a Roman soldier’s name. I giggled, the thought of Dinobot as a human soldier was kinda… hot? Dark olive skin, with dirty blond hair, probably shoulder-length pulled back in a ponytail, those stripes on his arms and chest as tattoos. And those piercing red eyes. God, how I loved his eyes. Red as blood and deep as my beloved oceans. A loss tunic rappelling down his toned chest and stomach...

_Is it getting hot in here, or is it just me?_

_Ahem._ A-at any rate, I was going through the list of creatures on this planet, and I had to say… they all seemed very familiar. 

You see, I grew up around a bunch of humans, that desperately missed home, so, as a young kid in their midst, they wanted to tell me _everything_ about Earth, and its history. Of course, along with many other things pertaining to the Alpha Sector: the Orion Pirates, the war with the Klingons, the war with the Andromedans. But Earth. The birthplace of the Federation. That was where all the richest histories lied. 

At least, it made sense. 90% of the crew was human. As was most of the Federation. Of course there were Vulcans, Andorians, and Kazinti, but they were few and far between. So learning mostly about human culture was to be expected. My father was human, my captain and sort-of mother was human. Then again, there were the other senior officers, the Chief Engineer was an Orion that snuck on the ship, the doctor was a half-Kazinti half-human, the Chief Science officer was a Vulcan, and the Commander was a full-blooded Kazinti. When it came to the senior staff, humans were in the minority. I guess you could have called it irony, that the leaders of the _Tippecanoe_ were _mostly_ minorities. 

But at any rate, I was getting off track, I had noticed that most of these animals seemed like they all came from… Earth… they just seemed bigger… or have slight differences in them that seemed rather miniscule, but a small thing kept bugging me. Where were the humans?

Where were the bustling cities? The star ships? Why was this place so… vacant? And the more I looked, the more sense everything made.

Nothing in the Maximals timeline made any sense from my perspective. From what I could tell they were, at least, one-hundred years ahead of us. Technologically, and literally. But nothing was the same as my timeline. There was no World War III in the 2060’s, no Zefram Cochrane that created the warp-drive. No warp-drive in general. Nothing. 

Instead, I had the complete history of the Great War in the 1980’s between the Autobots and the Decepticons. How humans had helped the Optimus _Prime_ and his Autobots defeat Megatron and his Decepticons. The Maximals being the descendants of the Autobots and the Predacons being the offspring of the Decepticons.

_Optimus Prime? Megatron? But… I thought…?_

More research showed that this Optimus and Megatron had taken the names in honor of their predecessors. One by birth, and the other by choice. How convenient that these two would duke it out on the planet I could swear was Earth. The only problem was when… and why the hell Earth had two moons?

There was a possibility I was mistaken. Many other planets, even from my timeline, had similar creatures, and planets don’t suddenly just lose moons over time. Still, I checked their database to see if there were any differences to the Earth that I learned about, other than it’s history.

Nope, their Earth had only one moon, and this planets moon had none of the same markings as Earth’s. What of the temporal shift the Maximals and Predacons went through? Could it have taken them to a time before the moon had those markings and another moon? How ever long ago that may have been, my point had still stood; Planets don’t lose moons just because. If this really was Earth, which I was continuing to doubt, then something truly catastrophic happened to make it lose one of its major satellites.

I sighed. I was probably working myself up over nothing. This just was probably a planet that had similar creatures to that of Earth. Heck, even Vulcan had something that looked close to a bengal tiger. Though those lucky buggers got to keep them as pets… this wasn’t Earth, but I did get something out of it; I had somehow jumped into a parallel timeline, and I doubt even Starfleet knew how to deal with something like this.

Wouldn’t it be funny, if I went to a different version of Starfleet, but they were tyrannical or something. Ha, like that would ever happen.

How was it that everytime I look up something, I find these very convenient exposition dumps? At any rate, I had my fill of very useful information that would have been very nice at the start of my adventure, but I was either too lazy or to busy to look these very _important_ facts that could have helped me! I groaned at my own stupidity, and closed out of the computer. It was time for my physical anyway.

**OOooOOooOOooOO**

Rhinox had put his hand on my broken leg, and smiled. “Congratulations, Miss Elisa, you look like you’re healing up nicely, A couple more days and you should be able to walk perfectly fine,” I sighed with relief and then kinda snorted. 

_Of course my people healed fast, they needed to with all that war they like to rage…_

Rhinox let go of my leg and tilted his head.

“Is that something amusing?” he asked, as I kinda nodded my head.

“Yeah, a little, my people are very war hungry, so it makes sense that they would probably engineer themselves to heal quickly… If I were to be honest, I feel a bit ashamed of my people. I never really had the chance to meet any of them other than a certain Nephilim man named Maarku, and he… well, was very proud of his heritage, yeah, let’s go with that,” I answered, as Rhinox just nodded. Patting my aqua blue shoulder.

“Sometimes we’re not proud of our people, but we still got to remember that just because they look like you, it doesn’t mean that they share your values,” he simply stated “Sometimes it's the people that looked the least like you that share what you believe,” he gave me a warm smile as I nodded. He put his hand out for me to hold while helping me down from the table. I gratefully took it, I kinda started to feel like an old woman with how many times I needed help getting in and out of things. I was far too young to feel this way!

I could just imagine my father’s face if he saw me like this. He’d probably laugh at me, or call me old lady while trying to tell me stories of how he or one of his marine buddies broke their arms or legs by, I don’t know, jumped off a cliff, or something.

Oh, man, I missed my dad… I missed my crew…

It kinda felt bad how quickly I integrated with the Maximals. Heck, I even called them my family when I barely even knew them. I think I was trying to find something to latch onto, and whether that was healthy or not, well, it was too late to question it. All I knew was I had really fallin’ in love with these boys. Maybe it was how fast I grow that made relationships easy, or maybe I had a special connection with them that even I couldn't figure out. Whatever the case, I knew that no matter how far I tried to push myself away, I was really going to miss everyone of them. Especially Dinobot… 

As Rhinox held me close and protectively, I didn’t realize how much I missed being cared for by a fatherly figure. He, and Optimus, were the closed things I could get to that, and I craved it… He smiled up at me, he was slightly smaller than me, I was basically leaning on top of him as he lead me to the control room. Thankfully, I could walk without crutches now it was better if I were where everyone could see me.

He sat me down where everyone could at least side eye me, and went to one of the consols. I swear I was going to learn them someday… Of course, Rattrap had to be a smartass today.

“So, uh, how ya doin’ Aqua Fresh? Figure out how to finally walk again, or ya still need a big strong mech to carry ya?” He remarked, not even moving his head to face me.

“Nope, still need help getting around,” I answered, with little waver in my voice “That’s why I haven’t asked you, Little Mouse,” a light chuckle could be heard from the others, but Rat had it with the comeback.

“Coming from the girl that couldn’t hold her own in a small little skirmish, remind me again how you got that broken leg again?” Ow, low blow. I could see the others grow a little worried, Especially Di, balling his fists, but not really doing anything else. They probably thought I would start crying or something. But I grew up with marines, so…

“By fighting the leader of the Predacons with nothing, but my brains, teeth and claws, and here I thought you were there? Have you gone blind, Little Mouse?”

“Only an idiot would go after the boss,”

“Or someone who wanted to cut off the head of the snake,”

“Not if you’re that inexperienced, Elisa,” he finally turns to me, looking actually kinda concerned. This shocked me. Huh, he did have a heart after all. And he even used my real name. Did I really worry everyone that much? I shut up after that, because he was right, it was foolish of me to do that, and it nearly cost me a leg, and Di his life. The others had gone back to working, leaving the room far too quiet for my liking. So, I began singing.

“ _Now we are ready_

_to sail for the horn_

_weigh hey, roll and go,_

_Our boots and our clothes,_

_boys, are all in the pawn_

_To be rollicking Randy Dandy-O,_

“ _Heave a pawl, o heave away_

_weigh hey, roll and go,_

_The anchor's on board_

_and the cable's all stored_

_To be rollicking Randy Dandy-O_ ,”

The others looked at me confused. Cheetor questioning “What are you singing? Some kinda human song?”

I nodded, “It’s a sea shanty me and my crew would sing called ‘Randy Dandy-O’. If things got too quiet, we’d sing old Earth shanties to pass the time, I could teach you the lyrics if you like,”

The Maximals, seeming to have nothing better to do, just nodded and listened. Before long, the whole of the _Axelon_ was singing the lonely tune of “Randy Dandy-O”.

“ _Now we are ready_

_to sail for the horn_

_weigh hey, roll and go!_

_Our boots and our clothes,_

_boys, are all in the pawn_

_To be rollicking Randy Dandy-O!_

“ _Heave a pawl, o heave away_

_weigh hey, roll and go!_

_The anchor's on board_

_and the cable's all stored_

_To be rollicking Randy Dandy-O!_

“ _Soon we'll be warping her out_

_through the locks,_

_weigh hey, roll and go!_

_Where the pretty young girls_

_all come down in their frocks_

_To be rollicking Randy Dandy-O!_

“ _Heave a pawl, o heave away!_

_weigh hey, roll and go!_

_The anchor's on board_

_and the cable's all stored_

_To be rollicking Randy Dandy-O!_

“ _Come breast the bars,_

_bullies, heave her away_

_weigh hey, roll and go!_

_Soon we'll be rolling her_

_down through the Bay_

_To be rollicking Randy Dandy-O!_

“ _Heave a pawl, o heave away!_

_weigh hey, roll and go!_

_The anchor's on board_

_and the cable's all stored_

_To be rollicking Randy Dandy-O_ ,”

“You, know, I think I like that song, ‘specially the part about the ‘pretty girls’,” Rat admitted, gaining a disgusted face from Dinobot.

“Of course that’s your favorite part, Vermin. Is there anything else on your mind?” He groaned.

“I like it cause it's a pretty good representation of what it feels like to come home,” I began, “Back in the day, sailors wouldn’t see their families for months to years, so they would sing of home. I think that’s what most shanties were, a kind reminder of home, so when they came back, they’d know to be thankful for what they were missing,” I chuckled “Not to mention it was usually just men with each other, it’s no wonder they’d talk of their ‘Ladies of the Ports’,” Cheetor tilted his head.

“‘Ladies of the Ports’? What are those?” oh, crap… how… young was Chi, again? Crap, crap, crap…

“Something you’re far too young to know about, right, Elisa?” Optimus gave me the stink-eye, but I was, secretly, very thankful. It just meant I didn’t have to explain what men did on their leave back in the day… and even now… “By the way, how is your leg doing?” he asked, quickly changing the subject. I gave my leg a little pat. It hurt a bit, but not as much as it had been a few days ago.

“Pretty good, considering. Rhinox says I should be walking in a few days,” I looked over at Cheetor and then Dinobot. “That also means I’ll be needing help with hunting later,” Chi looked away from me, obviously still hung up over my rejection.

Look, it wasn’t as if I was trying to make him feel bad, I just genuinely wasn’t interested in him in that way. He was like a brother to me, all things considered. Though, he was the first of the group to see me cry, I still could never see him as anything more than a friend. He was cute, I’d give him that, but he was also so young. Not that I had _any_ room to talk, me being so young myself, but he just wasn’t my type. I liked men that were, well… like my father.

Strong, hardcore, don’t take crap from anyone, type men. In other words, someone with experience and who knows how to stand on their own, and Chi… he was anything but that. He was a young teenage boy that had a lot of growing up to do… heck, I did, too. Heh, what is more childish than lusting over a man probably fifteen times your age…

Suddenly, as if to pull me from my thoughts, an alarm went off, surprising me. Rhinox pointed at the screen, informing us of something “Incoming stasis pod, orbit has decayed over the northern sector!” Stasis pod? What were those for? Everyone perked up, looking excited and worried at the same time.

“Heads up guys!” Optimus yelled “And get ready to move!” obviously this was something pretty important, Rhinox counting down the time before impact. I limped over to the others.

Optimus begins to walk towards the door, what was he thinking?

“Hey, Big Bot, it doesn’t seem like a swift move, splitting up,” Cheetor muttered, I tended to agree, a commander doesn’t go out on missions like this, especially by himself, I stood in front of him.

“Yeah, no. You’re not setting a foot outside, Monkey Suit,” I told him, putting my hand on his chest, he looked at me confused.

“First of all: you have no say in the matter, my teammate is out there, and I need to go. And secondly: ‘Monkey Suit’?” He tried to move me away, but thanks to my leg, he was trying to be far too gentle.

“It’s a nickname.” I answer quickly “You can look it up later, and as a commander, you shouldn’t even _think_ about going out on missions like this. You’re too important,” He growled, starting to get agitated.

“Look, we don’t have time to argue, I’m the only flyer in the group and we need to get there as soon as possible--,”

“I don’t wanna hear it! If we lose you we lose a leader!”

Besides,” I heard Dinobot behind both of us, turning my head to see our resident hothead speak. “I’m not normally an advocate of caution… but I agree with Elisa and Cheetor. Megatron is not a normal adversary… he may do things far from what you think he may do,” There was that as well… I saw Optimus roll his eyes, or optics, or whatever.

“He’ll want to reach the pod first, do you not understand that!? Our comrade is out there just waiting to get picked off by the Preds and we’re sitting here, fighting over if I should go get them or not!” I had to admit, they both had a point. We were running out of time, but this was our boss’ life we were talking about. A superior officer. Someone who shouldn’t be be risking their life, and over what? He did say comrade, so I could only assume that another Maximal was in said pod. This was a definite dilema.

“At the very least… do me the honor of checking the perimeter. I have my… suspicions,” Di pushed, leaving Monkey Suit to sigh, but agree, telling him to hurry. Quickly walking over to the elevator we called a door, he went down. I had the unbearable urge to follow him, I guess I was scared to see if he were going to get attacked or not, and I wanted to try and protect him.

_Like you could do anything… weakling._

I bit my lip, fearful I’d start hearing phaser fire, but I never did. He came back up seconds later.

“My scanners detect no hostiles, yet something feels… amiss…,” He admitted, and that was enough for me.

“You go out there, Optimus Primal, and I’ll break _your_ legs,” Optimus looked at me, as if to think I didn’t mean it, but I was dead serious.

“Permit me to lead a scouting patrol, to satisfy both mine and Elisa’s concern,” Dinomight gestured towards me as Optimus growled.

“There isn’t time!” he shouted “Every second counts, and I’m not going to leave them there to be snatched up by a Predacon!”

“Your emotions are clouding your judgment!” both me and Dinobot said right alongside each other. We gave each other confused looks, shook our heads, and glared at our leader.

“Anybody else think that was weird as hell?” Rattrap questioned. I chuckled inwardly.

“I am in command here, now both of you, _stand aside_!” Optimus slammed into Dinobot, and forced me to the side, nearly losing my balance. I was more angry at him touching Di than I was at him gently pushing me. Why was I like this? I stood closely to the entrance, watching as Optimus turned on his jets and flew away.

I heard him say something to Dinobot, but I didn’t know what before I heard a boom, and then a yell.

I saw Di run out and yell something about an ambush. And there I was, helpless. I could do nothing as I heard a few seconds or maybe even a minute of fighting, before I heard the final sound of a phaser being shot, and the resounding _thud_ that came with it. Dinobot roared and shot his optical lasers at what, I assumed, was our enemy. One more _crash_. I heard an absolute adorable victory “Yes!” come from Dinobot. The thought of him doing a fist pump made me giggled a bit. I heard him run out farther as the others had finally gotten their gear to follow. Cheetor went first. I decided to help the best I could by saying out of the way, and waiting for the casualties. 

After a while, Optimus had limped his way back to the _Axelon_ and I raised a brow giving him an I-told-you-so look. He just sighed exhaustively as I helped him to the CR. He was put under, and we were left with the others leaving for the pod. Me and Dinobot were left alone… great…

Apparently, Di had damaged his weapons while fighting, so now we were alone… together… again… God, it was almost as if the universe was laughing at us. At any rate, I guessed I would make myself useful by learning the computers, at least I could try to be helpful in that sense. I found myself limping to the control room where I found Dinobot, reading. 

He looked so peaceful, sitting there with his legs crossed and a data pad in his hand, sadly, there was only one thing ruining this calm picture. He kept rubbing his right shoulder. His face contorted into an uncomfortable look, it reminded me when father would come back to our quarters after a long hard day, this would not do. I knocked on the bulkhead next to me, acting as if it were a door, which startled Di. I saw him slightly jump as I spoke. 

“May I come in?” He growled and put the pad down, he had moved his hand away from his shoulder and acted as if he were totally fine, silly boy. He cleared his throat and answered. 

“This room is not my quarters… you can come in whenever you like…,” I chuckled, he raising a brow ridge. 

“It’s just a thing humans do, kinda picked it up from my ships doctor,” I then pointed at his shoulder “need help with that?” He looked at it, and sighed. 

“Were you… spying on me?” I smiled. 

“Yep, I was _totally_ spying on you with this wonderful limp,” I smirked, being very obvious in my sarcasm. “No, but I did notice that you looked rather peaceful, and I wasn’t going to disturb you, but then I saw that you were having a bit of trouble with your dominant arm. That would really suck having to work in that condition,” I came closer to him gesturing to his discomfort. “If you’d like, I could rub it out for you,”

After muttering a “fine” I got him to turn around and begin rubbing his shoulder. He had a piece of metal between his actual arm and the area affected, so I had to change my technique just a little bit. When I started, he inhaled sharply, this must have been plaguing him for a while now if it hurt that bad. The dingus didn’t even think to mention it. Why? Because if you admit that you need some assistance you’re weak? 

To be honest, that was probably the reason… 

After a few brief moments of silence, he finally spoke. 

“Where did you… learn how to do this?” He groaned, I couldn’t tell if it was from pain or relief. “Ow…,” pain, definitely pain. 

“My father used to come home with his back all messed up from leading the marines. I don’t know how it started, but we made it a regular thing. Daddy would come home and I’d rub his back,” I stopped for a moment.

_Did I_ really _just call my father “daddy” again?_ I groaned, I was a grown woman for God’s sake… Dinobot must have notice my pause, because he turned his head to barely look at me. 

“What is this father of yours like, you seem to… idolize him quite a bit, why?” I must have pushed a little harder then I meant to, because he muttered, probably louder than intended. “Ah! Fragging, piece of shit!” I had never heard those words come out of his mouth, and it surprised me. He was usually so well spoken, I guessed that hurt a lot more than he cared to admit. I apologized. “I heard of the story of him saving those under him, but what else?”

Trying to be gentler this time, and continued. “My father is probably my most cherished person I know. He’s hard, but he’s kind,” I giggled a bit, noticing a knot on Di’s lower back I moved my hand. “He told me once that he looked like a stereotypical black man; really tall and big with no hair and intimidating features, though the mechanical left arm and right eye would usually throw some people off,” geez, this poor guy had worse knots than dad on a bad day. How long had Dinobot been dealing with this? 

“Is that… so?” Another groan, these outer rib cages and my really fat fingers didn’t help with trying to fix his back. Guy had knots on knots. 

“Hun, when was the last time you had someone check this out? I should have called you ‘string’ you have so many knots,” I chuckled and I moved to his left side.

Dinobot laughed, in a defeated kind of way. He relaxed as my fingers were finally able to get some of his knots out. We sat in silence for a few minutes, save for a few grunts coming from him and me humming. But then, the most hilarious thing happened.

You see, I was trying to get a knot down in his lower back, and I got really close to his sides, I squeezed and he yelped. Not in pain, mind you, in surprise. He turned towards me. 

“Elisa! Do not do that!” I was confused, until it hit me. I gave him a wide smile. Quickly, I snuck another squeeze in, aiming straight for his side, he tried to stop me, but I was too quick. He laughed in surprise before covering his mouth from embarrassment. No way! 

“You’re ticklish! Oh, my God!” I squealed with joy. He glared, still having his hand over his mouth. I put both my hands up, making myself jet forward, but never intending to touch him, just to freak him out. He flinched, and put his hand up defensively, ready to bolt at any moment.

“Don’t you dare…,” he warned, but I didn’t heed it. I pounced, trying my hardest and fastest to limp after him. He bolted like a spazzed out cat. Jumping over the central control panel, I ran after him, surprised I was keeping up. He transformed to gain more speed, and I went on all fours to try and catch him. 

“Stop chasing me! You insane femme!” He shouted back to me, I just laughed. 

“Not until I hear you _beg_!!” I shouted back, not realizing how sexual that sounded. Seeing him hit a fork in road, I tripped and stumbled, making an “oof” sound. He slowed, seeing me grab my leg, groaning in dull pain. He tilted his deinonychus head, carefully walking back towards me. He transformed, and kneeled down next to me. 

“Star Fall, you over exerted yourself, didn’t--,” he didn’t get to finished his sentence, before I grabbed his sides and didn’t let go. Ha ha! He had been duped! He tried pushing me away, but I squeezed every time he tried. Laughing and squirming in my arms. On the floor, he tried _so_ hard to not to laugh, but he was putty in my hands. 

“No! Ah ha ha! Please! I, ha ha! I yield! _I yield_!” He pleaded in between fits of laughter. I had said that I wanted to hear him beg. I put my good leg on his chest and shouted dramatically, pumping my fist in the air;

“I have felled the mighty Dinobot! May all who fight me, beware!” I got off him and we sat in a few seconds before I felt a massive and muscular mass mushed me against the mainframe. A wide toothy grin adorning his lips. Oh, no…

“If there is anyone to be felled, Star Fall… it is you,” he countered, I hated how giddy he made me feel, especially when he called me “Star Fall”. He then opened his mouth… and do you know… what this complete _jerk_ did? He… gently… _BIT MY SHOULDER_! His sharp teeth gingerly squeezed my soft skin, and I squeaked, and tried to squirm away, but he grabbed my arms, making me immobile. 

_Don’t scream, he’ll stop if you don’t react. Yes, it’s ticklish, but stay strong. Don’t squeal, don’t squeal, don’t squeal!_ I begged myself not to laugh, or even react, but then I felt something wet on my shoulder… he had a tongue, and I lost it. 

“ _EEEEE-YAAAH_ ! Oh, my God! Ha ha ha! No, no, stop, please! Okay, _Di_!” I giggled, my arms, legs and tail flailing in protest, as he loosened than tightened again, making me do more suffocating fish movements. The insane man wouldn’t let me go!

After a few moments he let me go, leaving some saliva on my shoulder, and that same shit-eating grin on his face. Oh… oh my… 

“That… is why you never--,” he stopped, and stared at me. I had no idea what he was planning, those eyes pierced into my soul, as he came closer to me. Screw it! I grabbed his face, and slammed my lips against his. 

He was surprised, I could feel his eyes widen, with mine closed tight. I caressed his his cheek with my thumb, he moaned and wrapped his arms around me. He growled that wonderful growl as his hands explored my body, mine doing the same to his. He snuck one of his hands up my back, running his fingers through my hair and grabbing the back of my skull. He was just about to slide his tongue in my mouth before… 

“Elisa!” I heard his voice and snapped out of my daydream. Oh… wow.

“Y-yes?” I stuttered, my eyes wide with the sudden switch of moods… and realities… 

“You seemed to have blacked out, are you getting ill?” He put his hand on my forehead, trying to see if I was warming up. Oh, I was hot alright, but it wasn’t from getting sick. 

“No, I’m, uh,” I pushed his hand away. I didn’t want him to feel how warm I _was_ getting. “You… I, um…,” What was I supposed to say? That I just had a perverted fantasy about a man that was caring for me? Oh, hell, no… I tried squirming my way out of his grip, he obliged, but gave me a confused look. “I just was… staring out into space. I’m sorry if I worried you,” he scoffed.

“I never worry. I just know that the others would… become quite saddened by the prospect of losing our chef,” _right_ , and I was a darling little asian woman… still, it was nice to know Di slightly cared. “There is also this situation about the… sensitivity of my sides…,” He continued, looking at me square in the face, he looked so serious “You ever speak of it, to _anyone_ … and they will never find your body,”

I simply smiled, and nodded. Getting to know something so silly about someone who took himself so serious, it was beauty at its finest.

“I promise, I won’t tell a soul,” I promised “As long as you don’t say anything about you biting my shoulder,”

“Agreed… besides,” Dinobot got up on his feet, stretching his hand out for me to take, “I believe we should… stay in the control room. In case that Vermin needs our help,” I took his hand, and he pulled me up. 

He was a little too rough pulling me up, because I was pulled to his chest, and I started to feel my heart race. Either by instinct, or by accident, he wrapped his arms around me, and I looked up at him. His face face began to turn a bright blue, with a genuine bewildered look on his face, I could feel his spark thump out of his chest.

_Possibility of Dinobot having a crush on me: 96%_.

My legs began to wobble, as he grabbed me, and growled.

“Can you stand for a _few_ nano-kliks?! I am not going to carry you to the control room,”

_Eh, 89%_.

“Hey, don’t make me poke your weak spot again, I thought we already went through that?” I threatened, of course, mostly joking. “Oh, by the way, guess what I found out,” 

He raised a brow “What is it, Elisa?”

“Okay, so, what is your animal called?” I asked, silently hoping he didn’t know. 

“That is quite simple, Star Fall. I am a velociraptor--,”

I made a buzzer noise, making him stop in his tracks. “Nope, you a deinonychus, the bigger version of a velociraptor!” He looked at me, shocked, I guess he really didn’t know…

“What? Die-non-i-cuss? Where did you hear that from?” He questioned, he almost seemed embarrassed to be proven wrong. 

“Research,” I simply pointed out, walking alongside him, “besides, I kinda like it a lot better, it sounds like the name you’d have if you were a Roman citizen,” I giggled, giving him the biggest smile I could muster. “ _Mo spéir Oíche lómhara_ …,”

Again, his face twisted into confusion. “What language is that?” I hummed, pretending to act clueless. “The one you were just speaking, I am not accustomed to it. It sounds like something from the upper parts of Europe,” oh, my, well spoken _and_ cultured? No wonder I was falling for him… yeah, I had kinda given up on trying to tell myself my feelings were going away any time soon.

“Correct! Irish-Gaelic is the language, but I’m not gonna tell you what it means,” I answered, giving him a cocky smile, to his obvious shagrin… 

“And why is that… Little Star Fall,” he asked, grabbing my arm to lead me back to the control room.

“Because this is more fun,” I giggled.

**OOooOOooOOooOO**

**Dinobot’s POV**

I had helped this confusing femme back to the control room, and had just enough time to sit her down, and check on our out-of-commission leader, before I heard a very annoying and familiar voice come over the com.

“Maximal Base! This is Rattrap!” I had no urge to walk over and talk to the vermin, but due to Elisa’s stern look and Rattrap speaking again “Hello! You read me, Chopper Face? We got problems,” I slowly walked up to the communication array. I despised when he called me that…

“Speak, Vermin…,” my voice holding more venom then I meant to slip out. Star Fall’s Ears perked up, and she leaned forward.

“The Preds scrapped the bridge, no way across. We’re gonna have to take the scenic route,” The vermin sighed as I began to grow angry… How could they fail in this? I couldn’t say I was worried about the protoform in the stasis pod, but we needed them if we were ever to win this war!

“No excuses you pathetic rodent! Keep moving, Dinobot, out…,” I hissed, this was crucial, and I wasn’t interested in hearing his pathetic whining!

“Hey!” He hissed back “You can just kiss my pink hairless--,” I cut the transmission before he could finish. How distasteful. I look up to see Elisa’s disapproving face.

“What?”

“Well, they can’t really help being put back if the bridge is destroyed…,” she muttered unimpressed. I just sighed, thinking for a moment. Their fault or not, they still needed help. Though there was a bit of an issue, considering three people were out of commission, how unhappy that made me… How could I feel so useless… useless… wait… I had it!

“Computer! Access and activate Optimus Primal’s core consciousness!” the computer answered with an “Acknowledged,” and began “waking” our leader.

“Core consciousness: Activated,” 

Star Fall came closer, leaning on the main console.

“On screen,” The computer pulled up an image of Optimus’ disembodied head, he looked half dead. He opened his eyes, looked around, and sighed.

“Don't tell me, let me guess: problems already?” He sounded just as exhausted as he looked. Elisa cleared her throat, making Optimus turn his head.

“Long story short, the Preds shot down a bridge and have a head start. Also, I didn’t know you could do that,” Optimus chuckled.

“It’s nice when you’re down. We didn't wanna do it with you the first time you came to us for fear of frightening you,” This was not the time!

“Optimus, do you have any thoughts on this… particular situation?” I tried redirecting the conversation.

“Is there any way to contact the pod?” he looked back at me. I thought for a moment.

“The energon field is too strong, our com-links will not reach,” I lamented, this seemed like a lost cause.

“What about trying to amplify the com-links, like using a magnifying glass,” Elisa tilted her head, looking down at the console in front of her. Her eyes darted quizzingly.

“We have nothing that could,” I quickly shot down, but she still seemed optimistic.

“Then, how about, laser-pulse?” Optimus tried, but again, I shook my head.

“Impossible, we would need… line of sight transmission,”

“What if we had mirrors?” Elisa tried again, I turned to her, at first to dismiss her again, but I stopped, it could work. 

“And how, pray tell, would we get these… mirrors?” I asked.

“The moons?” our tired leader questioned, making the proverbial light bulb in my head to turn on.

“I think we have something… Elisa!” her ears and head perked up, ready to listen, “I require your assistance,” she smiled, and nodded.

**OOooOOooOOooOO**

On the top of the _Axelon_ , Elisa and I worked on the laser pulse. I was in beast mode, not knowing how long this might take. I would see Star Fall’s face morph into a happy smile, muttering something along the lines of “Oh, my God, I want to boop his snoot!”, I hadn’t the slightest idea what she meant by that, however that was short lived.

She was on guard with that strange blaster she had, and I working on the array. From the corner of my optics, I saw her look intently every which direction. Her tail twitching, ears erect, and blaster at the ready. I could even tell she was sniffing the air with those gills she had upon her neck… Primas, even as I was trying to help my comrades out, she was still distracting… especially her hair… 

I had never thought I would be attracted to hair on a creature. It seemed so… otherworldly, different. It was not even that different from fur on an animal, just longer, and had a tendency to be styled by the leisure of its owner, but for some reason, on her… it looked so smooth, and well kept, even when she was put on a planet with no known cleaning products for her use, she still kept it proper. I would have to ask her how. 

It was uncomfortable how every time I was near her, I wanted to touch those beautiful locks of her’s. Even now, seeing the wind… gently blow it to the side to reveal her neck and upper back. Her skin was so crystal clear, and more beautiful than the purest of Energon.

Curse these emotions, they were nothing but trouble, and kept me from doing my work…

I had been pointing the array at one of the moons, I believed the smaller one, when Elisa shouted, and shot at something in the distance.

“Dinobot! I got your back, just get that laser pulse going!” she shouted over the laser fire. Why did I feel so _useless_?!

“Whoah, whoah, hold steady, Elisa,” I heard Megatron’s voice, and saw him in beast mode as well. How dare he use her name?! I growled as I continued working. _You harm her, bastard… and I will make you pay for every disgusting thing you did to me_ and _her_.

“What do you want, _Megatron_ , speak now, or lose your tongue,” she growled, making my frame shiver. Such venomous words to come from her mouth… it was the most mesmerizing thing I had heard-- stop that! Focus on the array!

“I see, not only does this female fight for you, she speaks for you as well, doesn't she, Dinobot. _Yes~_?” He taunted, and I growled, near ready to shout back, only to hear Elisa speak.

“Dinobot is to good to speak to someone as lowly and dishonorable as you! If you have anything to say, you shall speak to me! So, I ask again, and for the last time: What the hell do you want, _Megatron_ ?” Elisa shot towards his feet, as I chuckled, she was defending my honor? I was suppose to find reasons _not_ to find her attractive, _You are not making it easy, Elisa_.

“How is your leg, Elisa? I remember I hurt it _terribly_ , I had hoped--,” she shot at him again. She must have been in a bad mood.

“I’m getting tired of your voice, Little Arms. By the way, I must ask, is that how big your manhood is, or am I overestimating?” I had to stifle a laugh with a cough, I heard Megatron stutter, probably having been taken aback by such a wonderfully perfect comment.

“I, uh, well, I really only wished to talk with your _dear_ Dinobot, _yes~_. After all, the two of you are alone protecting the Maximal base!” I stopped my work, curious to see where this might have been going. “It’s an excellent opportunity, is it not?” what was his game, I decided I had enough, transforming and walking next to Elisa.

“Get to the point, _Little Arms_ ,” I quite liked that little nickname Star Fall had given him. And it obviously drove him up the wall. 

“Grr, you were a Predacon once, become one again! Hand the base over to me, and the Beast Wars will be over! We Predacons will rule over the galaxy, and _you_ would be my second in command. Join me, and I promise no harm will come to your adorable pet.

“In fact, she can even come with us, and you can do as you please with her! No-one will ever lay a hand on her. She’d be all yours!” How did he--? Where did I ever--? I looked at Elisa, her eyes worried with questions, and shaking her head, as if to beg me not to do it. She began to slowly back away from me, my optics darting from her weapon to her golden eyes.

“Y-you wouldn’t… would you, D-Di?” I saw her eyes begin to water with orange liquid dripping from them. She was shaking, terribly so, she looked so fearful, far from what she was moments ago. “Please… tell me you’d never…,” I knew where she was going, Primas, did I know. It was obvious Megatron did not know me as well as he thought he did.

Because if he did, he would have known that I would _never_ dishonor someone like that. Not even my worst enemy. I gave Elisa a smile, and chuckled darkly, confusing her, then turned to Megatron. I powered up my optics, and roared.

“Eat _Slag_!” and fired at him, sending him behind a rock, and grabbed one of Elisa’s hands, pulling her far from the danger. Or so I had thought.

Both Tarantulus and Scorponok, had blocked her exit. Aiming their weapons at both of us. They shot, but before they hit, Elisa had jumped on me, pushing us both out of the way. However, she had pushed hard enough to send us falling off the ship.

She screamed, and grabbed hold of me, trying to twist herself to take the fall, but I was not going to let her get more hurt than she already was, nor would I allow her to save me more than once today. My pride was on the line!

So, in the split second that fall took, I gave her a bear hug, and forced my frame to stay on the bottom. I felt the ground roughly slam into my body, the pain rippled from my back to the rest of my limbs. It forced me to let go of Elisa, letting her tumble away from me. She coughed and ran towards me, even with her broken foot. I heard the sound of a blaster being shot, more pain spread through my body as the laser hit me, and I flew to the entrance of the _Axelon_. 

“Dinobot!” Elisa shouted, firing at the one who shot me. Half limping, half running, she was by my side in an instant, putting a hand on my shoulder, and screamed like her life depended on it at the computer, still shooting at the Predacon invaders. “Computer! Auto-cannons on! _Now_ !” my vision was getting blurry, but I was _not_ going to go into stasis lock, not while I saw her in action. 

Elisa hadn’t noticed her mouth had split again, tongue dangling from her gaping maw. I had wondered in passing if her body did that due to instinct, or something else. She roared, putting her arm over me as I tried to get up.

The auto-cannons had gone online, and I heard two shots, and two bodies being thrown. The cannons had done their job, and were attacking who I could only assume was Megatron. Simply because I heard him shout, “Fall back! Fall back!” I was feeling better already, a smile creeping on my face.

“Di!” I heard Elisa’s voice again, and was feeling my body begin to repair itself. Her mouth had returned to normal, and turned me gently on my back. Pressing the button to go into our ship, she sat on my stomach, due to the fact that I was taking up the pad, and touched my face. I felt it get warm, knowing what this looked like. She laid on top of me, and whispered “Please be alright. I’m so sorry…,” and began to mutter in Gaelic again, maybe it was a prayer.

The pad had reached the top, and Star Fall looked over at the vision of Optimus. I was trying so hard to stay awake. She grabbed my arm and put it over her shoulders, I could see she was beginning to tear up again, frantic she spoke, “Optimus, the array is functional, fire!” she helped me away from the entrance. Placing me against the wall.

“Computer, uploading instructions… Now!” I knew then that I wasn’t going to pass out from the damage I had sustained, but Elisa looked worse for wear. She looked so scared and worried, that when she looked at me, she wrapped her long arms around me as if I were planning on running, and continued to beg my forgiveness.

It hurt, but I had managed to lift my right arm, and lightly touch her back, she pulled away in shock, and I saw her face. She had been crying… over me? Why? Wet orange tears dripped from her chin and onto my chest. She placed her forehead on mine, when we heard the CR chamber open. 

Optimus had put his hand on Elisa’s shoulder, but she did not move.

“Elisa, can you take care of him while I’m gone?” she simply nodded her head, and he left, leaving us alone truly for the first time. I felt my insides begin to turn.

After a few nano-kliks, she spoke. “Are you well enough to stay out of the CR chamber?” she sniffled, still holding me tightly. I groaned.

“I… doubt I will need the CR… but I need to transform to heal quicker,” she nodded once again, and slowly got off of me. I, painfully went into beast mode, and laid in the floor. Without a second thought, she joined me, again wrapping her arms around my body. There was nothing but quiet for a stretch, nothing, but our breathing and our thoughts. 

“I should have seen them coming…,” she spoke after those many minutes of silents, I turned my head to see her burying her face into my back. “I should have seen Tarantulus and Scorponok, I should have known they go from behind…,” she tightened her grip, “I only let everyone down,” with that I bit her, not hard, mind you, but enough to get her to jump. Elisa pulled away and glared at me. “What was that for?!” she shouted.

“For saying idiotic things,” I rolled on my back and laid on my other side, my tail twitching in anger. “You did not let me down, for someone who has had very little practice in the… art of battle, you have done well,” she looked away from me, shame. Being too far for my claws to reach, I used my tail to push her head back to face me. I was never good at making people feel better, but with her, I had made an exception. I was not going to let the one femme that had wiggled into my spark to feel this way. “I am… grateful that you did not abandon me in that battle. It… would have been safer for you if you had…,” she shook her head, and wrapped her tail around mine, and putting her hand on the side of my face, smiling.

“I would never leave you, even if it meant saving myself,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: “Mo spéir Oíche lómhara…” means “My precious Night Sky” 
> 
> As my first author’s note, I think I should clear up a few things about this fic; I have planned pretty much everything out from start to finish, so if something isn’t answered in earlier chapters, they will be answered in later chapters. Like how Elisa came into this world, trust me, I haven’t left it out, I’m just waiting till later to explain. So if you do have questions, don't be afraid to ask, just know that I will most likely answer them later in this fanfiction.
> 
> On another note, this is going to be a part of a continuing series after I’m done with this fic. But it will be as a comic book on Deviantart, which I promise to link to on my profile when It’s up.
> 
> Thank you to the people who’ve read this, and enjoyed this, see you in the next chapter. Until then, I’m Emerald DragonFlame, telling you, to let it burn!


	7. Chapter 7

**Dinobot’s POV**

It was too damn _cold_ ! As the snow pin-pricked my scales, I walked with Optimus Primal. At the very least _he_ had fur! We were looking for another stasis pod, and, once again, it was lost in the frozen abyss known as the north… this was what I got for helping Elisa. I shivered as we hit a very literal wall.

“C-c-cold,” I growled out of annoyance, glaring at my gorilla leader. “My servos are two degrees away from… falling off!” Optimus just sighed, why, in everything that was logical, would he bring a cold-blooded Cybertronian to one of the coldest places in this Primas-forsaken planet? He activated his communicator, and spoke.

“Base, confirm our position. Are we near the pod?”

“Well,” Rattrap’s voice was on the other end, “If it were a snake, it woulda bit’cha, you should be within a few meters of it,” this “snake” must have been extremely well hidden, because there was nothing to indicate that there was even a crash. We looked around, only to find it above us… perfect…

“We are within a few meters of it, horizontally, vertically is another story,” Optimus answered back, sounding worse for wear. Then, we heard wings buzzing… SON OF A--

Waspinator and Terrorsaur revealed themselves, flying over the Maximal pod. While it was true we had gained an ally in the white tiger known as Tigetron, we still needed more allies if we were to ever win this war! How did they keep ambushing us? 

Terrorsaur laughed.

“Some intrepid explorers seemed to have stumbled into a boxed canyon! Let’s close the lid, shall we?!” argh… I WAS ALREADY HAVING A BAD DAY!

“We are betrayed!” I shouted, as someone shot at us. It was Scorponok… the first missile missed, but the second one sent us flying. I transformed, after I got on my feet.

“And surrounded, defend yourself!” Primal ordered.

 _Ah, yes, because I was going to let the Predacons just shoot at my head…_ I had been around Rattrap and Elisa far too long… they were starting to affect me… the Predacons had transformed as well and the battle truly began. 

Terrorsaur aimed his blaster at my arm, and hit, though it wasn’t major, I simply shrugged it off, and growled. “We seem to be at a tactical disadvantage!” dodging another bullet. Yelling at Optimus. 

“Work with it!” he shouted back at me, I groaned.

 _“Work with it” he says…_ shots were being fired from all sides, of course I was on the defensive again, _Come and face me, cowards!_ Another missile, and it hit the wall beside Primal and I. 

All at once, ice and frozen rock fell on top of me… 

I was going to kill every insect I see on the way back to base. 

I heard our opposition getting away, and my leader breaking free from his frozen chains. I was still having trouble. 

A bird… I will kill every insect… and a bird.

I heard him fly after it, and I had finally broken free, charging my only long ranged weapon, I aimed at Scorponok, and fired. Perfect shot, center mass. Scorponok was down, and I saw Optimus fly after Waspinator.

“That pod’s Maximal property!” He shouted, I had no time to warn him before Terrorsaur shot him in the back, sending him spiraling down. Hitting the wall of ice and landing front first in the snow… I looked up and growled, he was too far away for my optical lasers.

“Which the Predacons will gladly steal!” He shouted with his shrill voice. I turned my head back to Optimus, who shook his, muttering. “Well, that’s just prime,” 

I walked over, and grabbed him, lifting him over my shoulders. He groaned, obviously not caring for being carried, but I was in too much of a bad mood to give a shit. Running as fast as my legs could carry me, I left for the long trek back to base.

I had a few insects to kill…

**OOooOOooOOooOO**

Back at base, we were greeted by Star Fall, who was not surprised to see us in a more… roughed up state. I was no worse for wear, but Optimus needed medical attention. She helped him to the CR, and walked back to me, leg finally healed.

“Another ambush?” she asked, already knowing the answer. She began walking with me down to my quarters.

“I am getting sick and tired of always being on the defensive! I haven’t a clue how they keep finding us, but it is… truly getting agitating…,” I admitted, her face showing sympathy. 

“Sounds like you need a nice hot cup of tea. I’ve been experimenting with new herbs, if you’d like to try some?” If I were to be honest, I was cold, tired, and something warm to put in my stomach as I waited for my next order sounded more than inviting.

“As long as it doesn’t taste like propane, again,” Elisa, then batted me on the shoulder, which, in turn, made me cringe. It was still a bit sore from the fight.

“Oh, slag! I’m sorry! Did I hit a battle wound?!” she started to freak out, which I disputed by calming her nerves. I kind of chuckled at the fact she started using Cybertronian curses.

“I’m fine,” I groaned, “It will take far more than a light tap from a femme to hurt me,” we had taken a turn to where our quarters were, Elisa’s being only a couple empty rooms away from mine. She looked at me with a hopeful smile, grabbing my servo.

“Would you like to join me in my quarters?” she asked, dumbing me, only for a moment.

“I thought you were going to make tea?” I questioned, this femme…

“Later for everyone, I wanna help you for now, you were shivering,” I had hoped she wouldn’t have noticed. Acting weak in front of the others was… uncomfortable, to say the least, but with her… still, to be taken care of by this lovely femme… I sighed in defeat.

“Fine, but don’t tell anyone,” Her smile grew wider, as I felt myself get warm again. I never knew how lovely that smile was…

“It’ll be our little secret,” Star Fall cheerfully added, as she led me to her quarters. 

Her doors opened to a room covered in flora from many different regions, though mostly tropical. She had a small waterfall flowing from the wall to the plants wrapped around her entire quarters, with smaller waterfalls feeding into lower parts of her plants. The room had a very calming scent to it, and she had her window open, that showed the scorching hot desert. Her berth was covered with a homemade mattress, blankets, and two different colored throw pillows, all made by the skins of animals she had killed herself, or one of us had. There was a desk with her computer, phaser (as she oh-so continuously corrected me on), and her useless scanning device she called a tricorder.

Her room had more plant life than I cared to have anywhere near me, but it was something she enjoyed. It was far from the more spartan lifestyle I had been accustomed to. She even had useless decorations on her ceiling such as colorful crystals that shown different lights around her room depending on the sunlight. And a skinned lion on the floor as a carpet… Then again, I did like that… 

She motioned for me to sit on her berth, which I felt rather embarrassed doing, but I obliged, it was far too soft. Seeing her bring out a few black rocks, a kettle, I remember seeing the Garbage Eater (Rattrap) make, and a type of magnifying glass.

Elisa put the rocks down, on a blackened area near to the window, and went to the main waterfall on her wall. She then ran the kettle under it, filling the kettle to the brim. She closed the lid, put it on top of the rocks and used the magnifying glass against the window. The sun was at a perfect height to start heating the rocks, and as a few seconds passed, they became red hot. Sitting the glass down, she turned to me, and smiled. 

“See, I told you I was going to make tea,” sitting next to me on her berth, she used the back of her hand to touch my forehead. I was getting warm again.

“You seem to… enjoy making things more difficult for yourself,” I try to pull away from her touch, but she only leaned in closer. I had a very full view of her cleavage, I tried not looking down. “Why not just make some in the kitchen?” why could she not make clothing that covered her more? She removed her hand.

“Because, my dear Dinomight, sometimes I want hot water, and I don't want to walk all the way to the kitchen to get it,” Elisa answered, either oblivious of my glanced to her wears, or not caring. “You don’t feel quite warm enough just yet,” she hummed and looked around her room, then grabbing a thin blanket, and wrapping it around my shoulders. “Here you go, that should help!” I was too tired to complain.

I did have to admit, it was warm. I could feel myself heating up again, and was not as tired anymore. And the smell… there was another thing about this room… another thing that made me feel calmer… her scent.

It was everywhere, and potiant in this room. It was a good smell, a smell I could get lost in, and now it was on my frame… I wanted to rub myself on it, and have it near me. Her scent… _her scent_ ~

Slag! I was doing it, again! No matter how much I tried to convince myself otherwise, this was when I learned… I was falling for Elisa… and that this curse would haunt me for as long as she was near, and even after that… but there was no way in Hell I would tell her how I felt. I would not give her the satisfaction of tormenting me with this knowledge. I would not have my spark played with by someone whom I barely knew. No… this would stay close, and never to be let known by her, or any of the others.

For the next hour we talked about meaningless nonsense. Taking and refilling my cup of tea, it was quite good, in fact. She would vaguely reminisce on something from her universe, which this is whenever she told me her findings. That she was from a parallel universe and was sent here due to a strange space anomaly. Which, in turn I would inquire about what her universe was like, telling me stories of space dragons, star eaters, plagues, and unrequited love. Elisa’s eyes started to tear up as she spoke.

“I love my crew, and they loved me. When they found me, there wasn’t a hint of malice, or fear from them when they found me, just… curiosity,” I nearly scoffed at the idea, but I didn’t want to interrupt her. “My captain, Zalvadora, she was the one who told my father to care for me because she knew how much the crazy marine loved kids. Then there was the others,” she sniffled and smiled, tugging on the blanket that was still around my shoulders. I quickly pulled off, feeling embarrassed at how I must have looked.

“There was, um, Commander Star Claw, Chief Ronan, Doctor Ti-Me, and Lieutenant Ka’tal, and they all had a hand in raising me. Star Claw was my favorite uncle, he would always get us into trouble, but he was fun, and happy. Uncle Ronan would, always, somehow be sucked into our shenanigans, but I guessed it made sense, since he and Uncle Star Claw were, like, best friends,” I found it strange how she had familial titles for people whom were not even her same species. “So,” she looked at me, earnest look on her face. “What was your childhood like, you guys have people to take care of you? Or...?”I stopped. People that... 

That one question… that was all it took… I… began shaking…

It was such a simple question, but contained so many painful memories. Too many… the cup slipped from my servos and crashed to the ground, leaving pieces everywhere, as “they” began appearing in my memories. 

What? Why was I--? Don’t! You didn’t have these anymore!

Elisa gasped, quickly sweeping the shattered glass away. I was still shaking… 

_No, no, no! Not here, not here, not here!_ **_PLEASE!_ ** Those moments came flooding back, my spark felt like it wanted to burst out of my chassis, I wanted to throw up. I couldn’t be having one _here_ , not in front of her! _Primas, make it stop, make it stop make it stop…_

_Weakling…_

**OOooOOooOOooOO**

**Elisa’s POV**

When Dinobot started shaking like that, I genuinely didn’t know what to do. Was he having a panic attack? Did I trigger some suppressed memories he had been hiding? I didn’t know, all I knew was, I had to comfort him, and do something, _anything_!

“Di! I’m sorry, please! Are you okay?” Of course he wasn’t _fucking_ okay, he was shaking like he had been left outside in the cold for a day. He started breathing heavy, he even sounded like he was choking, and wrapping his arms around himself, sweating profusely. 

Panic attack.

I slowly put my hand on his shoulder, not sure how he’d react. When he stiffened, I pulled away. He needed to breath, that was the first thing. With the calmest voice I could muster, I spoke.

“Dinobot, it is alright, your going to be okay, but you _need_ to breathe,” he shakily turned his head, oh God, he was terrified, “Please Di,” I gently put my hand on his shoulder “Follow my lead,” I, then, inhaled through my gills, pushing him to do the same. He did, and inhaled through his nose. I exhaled through my mouth, and he followed. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. I pulled him close, hoping that hearing a calm heartbeat would relax him.

_He wasn’t a child, you idiot._

Gasping for air, he let me hold him. This must have been terribly difficult, letting me see him like this. 

He was breathing better now, but still shaking like a broken blender. And when I tried talking to him, he would just do a kind of half cough, and shook his head. _Please, Precious Night, you don’t have to be afraid…_ I was scared, I had to admit. 

Here Dinobot was, shaking, beginning to whimper, and holding on to me like his life depended on it… and it was all my fault… this was all my fault. _Don't cry, don't cry, don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry…_

I did the only thing I could think of; I sang. 

It was nothing but nonsense, but I just tried to sound as relaxing as possible it was so stupid…

Then again it did work a little bit. He wasn’t shaking (though, he was still shivering a bit) like the last leaf of fall, but he was still holding on to me like I was the tree he was trying not to fall off of. I was caressing his face, and shoulders, just to try and calm him. 

How could I have done this to him? I had seen a few of my crew go through something like this, but I never knew how to handle it. Thankfully, I was a quick study, and had learned some tips and tricks… I doubted it was enough, though… 

“I’m sorry…,” was the first thing to come out of his mouth.

**OOooOOooOOooOO**

**Dinobot’s POV**

Shameful… that is all this was. How could I have let her see me like this? A warrior… felled by irrational fears… 

By memories long passed.

I was surprised, however, how quickly she had calmed me. These attacks, when I was alone, could last much longer, but I was shaking less and breathing somewhat normally. I couldn’t help, but apologize, I was a mess. I probably looked so pathetic at that moment, I was waiting for her to start laughing at me. Telling me how she would share this with the others, just to humiliate me, but she didn't…

She cried, not to the point of sobbing, but enough for her to grab me tightly. 

“N-no, Dinobot, don’t apologize…,” 

What? 

“I’m just glad you’re alright… if I had known, this would never have happened. Please forgive me…,” why did this anger me? Elisa was nothing, but kind to me… and yet, it made my energon boil. Maybe I thought she was making fun of me, maybe I needed a reason to hate her. Maybe… I was scared… scared of knowing someone actually cared enough to cry over me. 

“What is your game, Elisa?” I began in a threatening tone, my voice slowly coming back to me. “Do you find my agony… interesting?” Her face contorted into confusion, her tears staining her face. 

Primus, I was an idiot… 

“Di? W-what are you--,”

“DO NOT CALL ME THAT!” I snapped, “it is an idiotic name, do you know how degrading it is? To be continuously fawned over by a femme?! To be treated like a _sparkling_ and pampered like this?!” 

What the hell was I saying?! She didn’t deserve this. Was I really this awful of a mech? Primas… what was I thinking… Elisa, however, was turning from fearful to irritated. Standing up off her berth. 

“So, that’s how you feel about me, huh? Oh, how dare I wish to care for one of my friends…,” she stepped closer “ _Forgive me for_ wanting to make your life comfortable, how _dare_ I care for you…,” her voice was low, calm, but her eyes looked like they wanted to shoot daggers into my spark. 

“And are you going to ‘care’ for me, by speaking of this misadventure to Optimus, or Rhinox, perhaps? Tell everyone I have this problem!”

“And why the _FUCK_ would you even think I’d pull something like that?” She screamed at me, I had never heard her curse like that before this, it caught me off guard. 

“Do you take me for a fool?! That is all you people try to do with things like this. You talk, and talk, and talk until your throats’ go raw. Running circles around the problem until you grow weary, then wonder why nothing changes!” I punched the wall, leaving a dent in it. I saw her flinch, but she stood her ground, and calmly spoke. 

“Get out…,” all the warmth had left her voice, there was nothing, but frigid coldness. “Now…,” I snorted. 

“My pleasure…,” I said, turning around, only to hear her speak again.

“Talk to me like that again, and I will kill you in your sleep…,” she threatened. 

I left. 

At first, happy I had gotten out of that room. Only slowly realizing, I had hurt one of the few good things in my life. I looked back at the door… only to turn towards my quarters, my shoulders slouching, as if they were holding all the guilt the world could handle. 

**OOooOOooOOooOO**

Elisa has not come to the meeting. She had stayed in her quarters after the… incident… Optimus even came to me, asking about her whereabouts. I simply stated that she was not feeling well and had preferred to stay in her quarters for the time being. This was between me and her, he did not need to know the details. 

Walking over to the holomap, he slammed his fists. “This makes three straight operations ambushed!” 

“Sounds mighty suspicious,” Rhinox agreed. 

“Like some rat slippin’ info,” Cheetor commented, only to be interrupted by Rattrap, offended by the words. Cheetor quickly put his servos up in defense and corrected himself “Uh, speaking metaphorically, that is…,” Rattrap just gave a small “heh” and turned back to what he was doing. Though… there was a thought. 

“It was Rattrap that lead us into the boxed canyon… and nearly to our deaths,” I spoke in an accusing manner, leading him to, again, try and defend himself. 

“What are ya tryin’ to say, ya big lizard head?!”

“That’s ridiculous!”

“Rattrap wouldn’t do that!” Both Rhinox and Cheetor came to his aid. Elisa would have probably tried to defuse the situation. Primal spoke up. 

“Well, I’m not so sure…,” the others were stunned, while I was surprised Primal had actually… listened to me. “Rattrap, I want to have a word with you… in private…,” Leading him away, Optimus pulled him away, leaving me alone with two pairs of angry optics. 

Great, two more people angry with me… 

And as if the universe need to laugh at me further, who should appear than Elisa. Her eyes looked puffy, and she seemed frazzled, glancing at me, then looking away.

“Sorry everyone!” she gave a fake smile, “I wasn’t feeling to good, but I’m better now,” the others gave genuine grins at her presents. How was it she had such an effect on people? That her mere being in the room made people happy? And I, shame… 

_Boo, hoo, so sad… the poor little whore’s girlfriend doesn’t like him anymore…_

“So, what happened while I was away?” She asked, leaving the others to glare at me. 

“Dinobot suggested Rattrap is rolling with the Preds…,” Cheetor answered her, leaving her to glance at me again. “C’mon, E, tell him that he’s got it all wrong…,” 

Slag… Elisa stiffened up, now full on looking at me. Her eyes not having the same gleam as they used to have… there was no fire.

“Is that so…?” she asked, clearly forced smile on her face, her voice sugary sweet, were the others blind?! Clearly she was not alright! 

She came towards me. “Is what they say true… _Dinobot_ ?” with her eyes closed, and lips in a wide smile, it was unsettling to say the least. I swallowed. “Cause it would _really_ suck if you… _accused_ someone of something they’d _never do_ ~,” she giggled, putting her hand on my face, I saw her tail twitch in irritation. 

“Would you~?” Her eyes opened slightly, having their amber color burn into my spark. 

I looked away in shame. 

I didn’t mind if the others were angry with me, I could handle that… but this. How do you handle this?

She patted my cheek as if I were a sparkling. Oh, she wouldn’t humiliate me with the information that she had on me, she would shame me, knowing full well she was right, and that I couldn’t do a thing to retaliate. “Elisa I--,” I began, before I heard Rattrap’s voice shouting.

“Ech, chu! Get scrapped Optimus! You think I was working for the Preds! Oh, ho ho, you got a whole ‘nother program to run! You over-sized baboon!” Rattrap was shoving Primal as he spoke, only to be stopped by Optimus. Our leader turned to us.

“Maximals, Rattrap’s loyalty to us has been brought into serious question,”

“Oh, come on, Optimus,” Rhinox groaned, “He’s no spy,”

“The repeated ambush of Maximal operations suggest otherwise,” Optimus retaliated.

“Why, because _one_ person said something?” Elisa questioned. Her voice still sounding sickly sweet.

“I don’t want to hear it, Elisa. You were hiding away in you quarters this whole time. You have no say,” Optimus scolded her. Making her scowl.

“Away or not,” I sighed, her being angry at me or not, I still wished to defend her. “She has the… right to disagree with you,”

“I’m not a weak maidan in need of defending, _Dinobot_ ,” She was not using the nickname she gave to me… I could only suppose that was fair… still… 

“It is my duty to defend you, both your honor, and your body,”

“How about this,” She hissed venomously, losing her fake happy. “Why don’t you go take your ‘defending my honor’ and _shove it up your extraction pipe_! And, while your at it, go take a long walk off a short peer, with lead boots on!” she, then, whipped around and walked to the corner of the room, leaving everyone speechless.

“Great…,” Rattrap muttered, “Not only am I bein’ accused of workin’ for the Predacons, but you two are fightin’... this day just keeps gettin’ betta and betta…,”

“Be silent, vermin…,” I snarled. Watching her leave… I could feel the anger radiating off of her. 

**OOooOOooOOooOO**

Elisa had still not spoken to any of us after Rattrap had left. The others had asked me what had happened, and of course, I told them nothing. It was none of their concern! I simply stated that she and I had a little disagreement, and left it at that. She gave them the same cold shoulder, saying everything was fine and it was none of their business.

Femmes… couldn’t she see I was trying to apologize!? Why did this irritate me so much? It was not as if we were anything to each other, just comrades who just so happened to get close.

She wasn’t supposed to be anything important…

“ _Maximal command, this is Rattrap_ ,” Over the comm, the vermin was spitting venom. I had nearly forgotten that he had been sent over to sector twelve. Even _I_ feared going there. An active volcano seemed far too dangerous for one person to “explore”.

“ _My ‘recon’ mission indicates nothin’ here but mountain rock. Happy?_ ” He asked, almost sounding like he knew what Primal was going to say. 

“One more sweep, Rattrap, then bring it in,” Optimus answered back. I was still sceptical, it could have been possible that this was still nothing, but a ruse. “Check sector 12.8 by 1-22-9,”

We waited for a few moments to hear him relay again “ _Nope, nothin’ here: Energon or otherwise_ ,” only to hear him yelp in what I presumed was pain. “ _Whoa, scrap that last report! Engaging Terrorsaur!_ ” I leaned in closer, now we would see how loyal he truly was. There was sounds of blaster fire and rapid movement.

“His commlink is open, and he’s under attack!” Rhinox said in a worried tone, then turned to me “Told you he was no Predacon lackey,” I glared at him, turning back to the comm. I could not tell completely what was going on, but after a moment, it had seemed Rattrap had lost…

“ _Prepare to die, Maximal_!” we heard Terrorsaur’s voice over the link. Oh, well, I would not miss him…

“ _Wait!_ ” Rattrap shouted, he was panting hard. “ _I beg for mercy…_ ,” 

“What?” Rhinox breathed in disbelief, his face fell. I could not say I was shocked…

“ _Mercy_ ?” Terrorsaur questioned “ _At what price_?”

“ _You name it_ !” Rattrap answered quickly “ _I-I got no links with the Maximals, anymore. I’m a free agent_ ,”

_“Free agent”? Oh, how loyal…_

“ _Well, well, Finally. A Maximal with logic_ !” Terrorsaur replied smuggly “ _Very well, I will spare you, in exchange for certain considerations_ ,”

“ _Alright, what’ave I got to lose? I’ll do whatever ya say…_ ,” Rattrap answered “ _I’ll even become a Predacon…_ ,” Did he not realize his commlink was still open? Still, this was no shock to me. It was only a matter of time before that vermin would crack under the pressure. Still, this was… troubling…

**OOooOOooOOooOO**

**Elisa’s POV**

I was barely listening in on the conversation before I heard Mouse’s voice “ _I’ll even become a Predacon…_ ,” I was too emotionally exhausted to really care, but I had just enough to tighten my hands into a fist. First Dinobot, now Rattrap. If I hadn’t already, I would have cried. However, Dinobot had all, but drained me of all my emotions. Was this my fault? Did I do something wrong? Did I not handle the situation properly. 

Was this my fault?

“Rattrap? No, he couldn’t!” Chi shouted in horror.

“Will you, still, defend your friend?” Dinobot hissed “Or will you see him for what he is; a traitor…,”

“Like you have any room to talk…,” I mumbled under my breath, thankfully, he didn’t hear me. However, Rhinox had my back covered.

“You’re a fine one to talk!” he shot back, gritting through his teeth. “Rattrap w-wouldn’t… sigh…,” I could hear his defeated tone. I got up, and stared down at the radio. Terrorsaur’s manic laughter filling the room. 

“We need to get him out of there…,” I stated bluntly. 

“Exactly what I was about to propose,” Optimus replied. An air of confusion filling the room. 

“You mean rescue him?” Cheetor sounded hopeful. His optics wide. 

“Why?” Rinox questioned, it almost sounded like his spark had shattered. “Let him go…,”

“Rattrap is too dangerous a weapon to fall into Predacon hands!” Primal ordered, gaining a nod from Dinobot. 

“Agreed,” he replied. At least we could agree on something. “He should be neutralized and returned here. To answer for his treachery and… to be brought to justice,”

“However messed up it sounds, I concur,” I answered, “he’s just as dangerous as an ally as he is an enemy…,” I sighed, looking up to see Dinobot’s surprised face as I agreed with him. 

“He should either be imprisoned… or executed…,” the gasps from the other two where heartbreaking. 

“N-no, Elisa, you… you wouldn’t,” Cheetor nearly begged. 

“A dead man may not be able to learn from his mistakes, but a treacherous man will keep making the same one…,” I looked over at Dinobot, who almost seemed like he looked away in shame as I continued; 

“Rattrap switched sides because he was scared, and didn’t want to die, like a coward, but if someone switches sides for ideals…,” I didn’t look at Di… but I placed my cloven hand on his shoulder, feeling him tense and head twist to look at me, “then he did it because he was brave…,”

“You have no idea why Dinobot became a Maximal… do you?” Rinox muttered. 

“Did you do it because you were about to die, and begged for mercy?” I decided to ask the traitor himself. Lifting my head to meet his gaze. 

“I… would have killed myself if that were the case…,” he answered back truthfully.

“Then I say you get a pass,” I patted him on the shoulder, showing Rinox that there was some differences in these two cases. I was still angry at Dinobot, but it was hard to not defend him in some way… 

Might as well, right? He’s… always the one keeping the others in check when talking to me…

What he did was wrong, and it was going to take me awhile to forgive him for that… but I didn’t want us to stop talking… 

“While that is all well and good,” Optimus chimed in, “I’ll be the one who decides Rattrap fate, but right now, Maximals, let’s move,” 

He then looked at me, and said “And I think you need more time in the field, go get your phaser,” I nodded, and quickly ran to my quarters to get said weapon. 

The others were waiting for me as I ran to catch up. I wasn’t gonna screw this up again.

**OOooOOooOOooOO**

This was the closest I had ever been to the Pred’s headquarters, and I had to say, it was intimidating. The others were in beast mode, while I was standing on all fours, trying to lay low. My ears twitched as the wind blew past us. It was nice feeling the cool breeze, as our feet burned from the heat of the fuckin’ _volcano_ we were standing on!!

But of course they had to fall in a pit of lava, why not? It’s not like they could’ve dropped off in the ocean, or in the middle of the forest! Nah, it had to be a pit of lava…

The others began to question why we hadn't attacked yet, because I needed to sweat anymore. 

“We attack on my command!” Boss Monkey ordered, his optics fixated on the Predacon Base. 

Dinobot walked up to me, I could damn near feel that he needed to talk. And as I expected, he spoke. 

“Since our leader seems preoccupied at the moment… can we speak about what happened earlier today?” 

I sighed, and looked over at Optimus, he really did look a little distracted. We quickly and quietly pulled just far enough so no one could hear us. Of course we made sure that we could hear the commotion if problems arose. 

“What is there to talk about, Dinobot. I’m pretty sure you said what you needed to say…,” I checked my phaser, not sure if I was doing it because I wanted it to work properly.

Or because I didn’t want to see how depressed he seemed. 

“That is… not entirely true…,” he sighed “Elisa, there are things about my past I am… anything but comfortable sharing. And though I trust you more than most people… I’m still… not used to people giving a frag about me…,” he growled as he began scratching the back of his other claw. “When you… cried for me, it… it caught me off guard… and I hadn’t a clue how to handle it… all… all I am trying to say is… I’m so--,”

“We attack now! Maximize!” We heard Optimus cry out, as he transformed and began firing at the base. I tapped Di and said “We’ll talk later,” and proceeded to shoot at the broken ship. 

No sooner did we begin, the Preds ran out to counterattack. Their aiming was absolute shit, I wasn’t even trying hard to keep myself covered. However, we weren’t fairing any better. 

“We’re outnumbering!” Rinox shouted as he sprayed his minigun. 

“We have a secret weapon, just keep fighting!” Optimus shouted, deciding to get in the thick of the fight. 

I saw Rattrap shoot at Optimus… and saw him fall, I was too entangled with fighting Tarantulas to go and help him. Thankfully, Chi had him covered. 

“Cover me!” Di shouted to me, running towards Terrorsaur and Rattrap. 

“Right!” I answered back, running after him, phaser primed on anyone who’d attack him. He grabbed Terrorsaur by the neck and slammed him down to the ground. I, aiming my phaser at Scorponok. Pinging him in the neck. I was getting better, however, I wasn’t good enough, as I was hit in the head by their newest recruit. 

I yelled and looked behind me to see a black widow… I aimed my phaser, only for it to be kicked out of my hands with her foot. 

“Okay, so we’re gonna do this the hard way…,” I dodged a punch by jumping backwards and landing on all fours, unhinging my jaw, and roaring at her. 

“My, my, aren’t you a scary one,” she spoke down to me. I reared and chaotically ran towards her. Taking her by surprise I wrapped my arms, legs, and tail around her body, clenching tightly, I bit into her shoulder. 

I was nearly twice as big as her, but I was surprised when I knocked her out. Saying “screw it” to getting my phaser back, I decided I was far better suited at hand to hand combat… 

Confusion was my ally. 

I turned to see Di being held by Megatron, I was wondering where he had run off to. Rattrap had his blaster aimed towards them. 

No. 

I began running towards them. I felt mad, insane, but I didn’t care, I screamed and shouted at the top of my lungs. Running and acting like a rabid dog. 

“ _DON'T FUCKING LAY ONE FINGER ON HIM!_ ” I rammed my head against Megatron’s spine making him stumble, but he didn’t let Dinobot go. Instead he turned to me. 

“Ah, so you’ve come to face me again, Little Flower? _Yes~_ ,” he mocked. 

“Elisa! You idiot, _run_!!” Di shouted, but I didn’t listen. Instead, I ran in between Megatron’s legs, and began climbing his back.

And after that… all I could remember was the color red...

**OOooOOooOOooOO**

**Dinobot’s POV**

She made this horrific scream, I was turned enough to see her wrap her tail and legs around Megatron’s neck, banging on his helm with her fists and head. 

She looked like she had gone mad. Was this what the Nephillim were like? 

Strength so unhinged that it could turn its’ bearer blind with rage? Primas help their damned soul if that is the case… 

She had distracted Megatron long enough for me to pull away from his grasp, and run towards Rattrap.

Who’s blaster was aimed at me. I stopped, and glared at him, my sword loosely grasped at my side. 

“I should have known your cowardice would make you run… with your tail so firmly between your legs, it’s no wonder!” I screamed at him, his face unwavering as he kept his blaster aimed square on my chest “Have you no shame?! No honor?! And you called yourself a Max--,” 

I was interrupted by the sound of a blaster laser buzzing past my face. I turned to see Terrorsaur… sans his head… 

I turned back to see Rattrap glaring at me. “Call me a coward one more time… I dare ya…,” 

He ran past me and began to help Elisa, who was still on top of Megatron, who looked worse for wear. 

He had his left arm ripped from its socket, his helm had dents to the point where it had seemed to have shrunken. And his frame? Was covered in scratches and Elisa’s poisoning saliva. 

Elisa didn’t seem to be fairing any better. Covered in burns, bruises, and cuts, light red blood dripping from them. However, she didn’t seem to notice, still slashing and pounding away at flailing opponent. 

I ran after the vermin, and grabbed hold of Star Fall, she screamed nonsensically and savagely. I was behind her, holding her by her stomach, but she was fighting with all her might, trying to get me to let go. 

“Elisa! _STAR FALL_!” I shouted, “it’s me! Calm down!” She had stopped, but only for a moment, she growled and breathed heavily, twitching and still slightly trying to get free from my grasp. 

I pulled her away, but while I was doing so, she spat at and kicked the now unconscious Megatron. I then heard Optimus shout:

“We got what we needed, everyone, get Rattrap and let’s get out of here!” 

I wasn’t sure how I was going to get Elisa to come with us, but then I felt her loosen. She huffed, and muttered. “What the hell?”

I simply just grabbed her hand, and said “No time, just run!” And we began sprinting towards the _Axelon_ , my servo and her hand intertwined. 

I felt her grasp tighten, as the sounds of explosions filled the air. Yet it was all… muted. 

The world felt slow as her and I sped across the wasteland, I turned back to see her bloody, and bruised face look up at me in awe, the fire and heat flooding back into her eyes.

She let go of my servo, and began running beside me on all fours, giving me a chance to transform. As I did, we ran in unison, keeping pace with each other. I remember seeing her turn to face me, and through all the grime, though her hair being completely entangled, and her once shining scales now riddled with scars and imperfections, though all that, she smiled. 

Her smile had such a gleam to it, it was as bright and beautiful as the rising sun and in that very moment, I had realized something far more terrifying than death or torture or even the consept of life itself… 

I was in love with Elisa, completely and fully. 

And I would protect her with my life. 

**OOooOOooOOooOO**

**Elisa’s POV**

Di had filled me in on what had happened. Honestly, I wasn’t shocked, Nephilim had a tendency to be… less than hospitable or honorable when it came to fighting. I just had to wonder why it came up now of all times. 

Don’t tell me my people had a sense of love for their “comrades”, that seemed rather “un-Nephilim-like” of them. All they cared about was war, and conquering more planets for their empire… screw your comrade…

Or maybe I was just someone edgy character living vicariously through me, now wouldn’t that be something? Heh.

However, we had someone else to deal with… 

Rattrap…

We were in the main control room, the tensions were higher than ever, as everyone stared at Mouse. Dinobot growled.

“Tell me, Rattrap… why I shouldn’t kill you right now…,” he hissed, making Rattrap shiver.

“Because!” Optimus interjected “I know how to deal with him…,” he walked closer to Mouse, his face unwavering, and the rest of us waiting with bated breath to see what he would do.

But then he smiled.

“By congratulating him, of course!” he said, walking to a slightly mortified Mouse. They clasped their hands together, showing how proud our Commander was with his little spy. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, well other than Dinobot… 

He rolled his eyes, and shook his head and with a sigh, he muttered, “I was hoping I was wrong when you saved my aft, but of course not…,” I chuckled and smiled.

“Yeah, you would, wouldn’t ya? Asshole,” Rattrap replied with a sneer.

“Let’s just be thankful that we didn’t have another predacon to deal with. God forbid Rattrap really _was_ a turncoat…,” I said, trying to steer the conversation away from another fight. I jumped up, and stretched. “So, what was the purpose of you being a spy?” I asked.

“This thing,” he replied with a triumphant smirk, pulling out a computer chip “A Maximal decoder, the preds musta found it in a wreckage crash,”

“No wonder they hacked our communications, let’s hope that’s the last time we need to worry about that,” Chi stated. He seemed rather proud he figured that out, the cute dork.

“And that means his capture and betrayal… was all set up…,” Di groaned as he facepalmed “I cannot believe I didn't see it…,”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Rhinox asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” I said with a smile, “people are better actors if they don’t know they’re acting, it’s a pretty well known trick in the Federation,” I placed my cloven hand on Mouse’s shoulder. “Who more suited than the jerk of the group, himself?”

“Hey!” Rattrap yelled defensively, smacking my hand away as I chuckled.

“Though there is something we haven't discussed…,” Optimus began, “What the hell happened out there, Elisa?”

I froze. What _did_ happen out there? I genuinely had no idea what I did, or even how I did what I did… it was… it felt exhilarating…

“Honestly… I have no idea…” I answered truthfully, “When I saw Di… Dinobot get grabbed by Megatron I just… went berserk… maybe it was because I had a gripe with him or…,”

I looked over at Di, my heart skipped a beat. No, that was stupid! It was just a crush! That was it!

… right?

“Or what?” Rhinox asked. 

“Nothing, it was something that didn’t make any sense…,” I replied, Dinobot tilted his head as I looked away. Silence spread over us. 

“Elisa, might I speak with you… in private?” Dinobot asked, breaking the silence. The others looking at him curiosity. I sighed. 

“Sure,” I answered back, only guessing it was about the talk we had before battle. He nodded and lead me out of the control room. 

We walked for a bit, the air felt thick, and heavy, but I didn’t know why. He continued, until stopping in front of the training room. Without even looking at me, he spoke. 

“I wish to apologize,” was the first thing he said to me, I looked up. Not in shock or anything like that, just… calmly, I guess.

“I’ve already given you the reason I spoke to you in such a manner, however it does not excuse what I said,” he turned back to me, his face even and calm, “You’ve done much for us, and I am happy that we had met, I hope that--,”

“Okay, okay, that’s enough,” I said, waving my hand in dismissal. “This isn’t like you, love, I forgive you, hell, I should also apologize as well,” he tilted his head in confusion. I clarified. 

“Now, I don’t apologize for getting angry at you, I _am_ sorry, however, for _staying_ angry at you. I knew that you were having a PTSD attack, I’ve seen it many times when I was on the _Tippecanoe_. 

“And guess what’s the worst thing to do with someone when they’re suffering from any kind of mental disorder,” I looked up at him with a sad kind of smirk. “That I’m sorry for,”

He swung his head away in shame. I saw his hands clutch. 

“It was shameful for you to see me like that,” he growled through gritted teeth. 

“Why?” I asked “it’s a disorder, you can’t control it,” 

“It was weakness, and from a simple question as my sparkling-hood as well…,”

“And?” I pressed, gingerly touching his shoulder “Strength is the admittance of weakness,” I smiled sweetly “and I’m glad that you, subconsciously or not, you were comfortable enough to show that weakness to me,” 

His face seemed to have softened. Not just from my words, but ever since I met him. When we first met, he seemed to have a permanent scowl, but now… I don’t know, he seemed more relaxed in a way. 

He just chuckled, placing a hand on my head. “I guess if I were to fall apart, it would be in front of you, huh, Star Fall,”

I just smiled, closed my eyes, and leaned into his touch. 

_I love you, my knight_. 


End file.
